Jennifer Lynn Fertig, a 34-year-old White/Caucasian woman from Bear, Delaware, was killed inside her home on July 21, 2015, in what New Castle County police determined was a murder-suicide. The violence unfolded at Fertig’s townhouse on the first block of Monferrato Court in the Pine Woods neighborhood. At approximately 5:15 p.m., officers were dispatched to the residence after receiving a report of possible gunshots.
When police responded, they found Fertig and Michael Jackson of Pike Creek dead inside the home.
Investigators learned that Fertig had been at home when Jackson arrived sometime during the afternoon. A witness told police that a domestic-related argument could be heard coming from inside the residence before officers arrived. Police did not publicly provide extensive details about what led to the confrontation or disclose the exact nature of the disagreement. Based on evidence gathered during the initial investigation, authorities concluded that Jackson used a handgun to shoot Fertig and then turned the same weapon on himself. Police publicly characterized the deaths as a murder-suicide.
Fertig had deep ties to the area. Born in Wilmington on May 23, 1981, she graduated from Glasgow High School and later earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Wilmington University. At the time of her death, she had worked for Bank of America as an operations control analyst for approximately eight years while also maintaining a second job as a clerk at the Safeway grocery store in Peoples Plaza, where she had worked since she was 17. She was remembered by family and friends as hardworking and devoted to those close to her, particularly her nephews. She was also a longtime parishioner of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Newark and enjoyed spending time at the beach and vacationing in Ocean City, Maryland.
Jackson was the only person publicly identified by police as responsible for Fertig’s killing. Because he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, he could not be arrested or criminally charged, and there was consequently no criminal trial or conviction arising from Fertig’s death. Available reporting does not identify an additional suspect, accomplice, or person arrested in connection with the killing. The case was instead investigated and reported by New Castle County authorities as a homicide followed immediately by the perpetrator’s suicide.
