Elderly couple found dead in apparent murder-suicide

T.J. Pignataro

Mar. 20, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- - An elderly couple were discovered dead of apparent gunshot wounds early Thursday evening in their West Side home in what neighbors characterized as a murder-suicide.

Buffalo police late Thursday would only call the deaths of the two ... in their 80s -- "suspicious."

Neighbors who knew the couple, however, said the man who lived there had long been making threats against himself and his longtime girlfriend.

Neighbors identified them as Inocencio R. "Chico" Perez, 83, and Myrtle F. Sauriol, 86.

They said Perez had numerous health problems -- including what they believed was early onset Alzheimer's disease -- and had trouble coping.

Police went to the couple's home at 440 Seventh St. at about 8 p.m. after Perez's nephew arrived for a visit.

"He looked into the windows and saw that something was not quite right," said Michael J. DeGeorge, Buffalo police spokesman. "It appears that the two of them suffered gunshot wounds."

It was common knowledge, according to neighbors, that Perez had two .38-caliber handguns.

"He threatened to commit suicide when he came home from the hospital a month ago," said Patricia Schmidt, a neighbor of 12 years and close friend of Sauriol. She said she came to Perez's aid during a medical emergency that resulted in his two-week hospitalization.

Schmidt last saw Sauriol on Wednesday evening. Sauriol gave her a few dollars to go to a nearby Chinese restaurant to pick up a chicken and rice dish.

"When I came back to her house, she was shaking. She told me to keep it .‚.‚. I'm the last person she saw alive," said Schmidt, wiping tears from her eyes.

Neighbors said Perez, a World War II veteran, acted erratically in recent years.

"He'd walk around outside with a gun on his hip in a T-shirt, using a cane," said David Ksiezopolski, who lived two doors down from the couple and maintained their yard.

"I told her before he came back from the hospital, "You've got to get the guns away from him,'" Schmidt said. "She locked them in the trunk of her car. He called the police. She said she took them away because he threatened suicide, but they said he had a license to have them."

Sauriol, who was from Canada, met Perez at a supper club more than 50 years ago, and the couple had been together ever since, neighbors said.

Perez suffered an apparent heart attack earlier this winter and was in danger of slipping into a coma, the neighbors added. Schmidt performed CPR on him until the ambulance got there. Perez was in the hospital for about two weeks before being sent home, with a pacemaker.

Schmidt said Perez was turning inward since his return from the hospital, a possible sign of dementia starting to grab hold of him.

"She'd have to look him into the eyes a little harder and a little deeper," Schmidt said of the couple.

Schmidt and Sauriol often left their homes, taking walks to the lake and sitting to talk, then walking to Burger King on Porter Avenue and finally to Tops on Niagara Street before returning home. They were kindred spirits.

"She's the closest thing I have for family," Schmidt said of Sauriol.

While Ksiezopolski called Perez "a grumpy old man," he characterized Sauriol as a "sweetheart" who was the only one to welcome him to the neighborhood when he moved here in September 2000.

Still, Ksiezopolski said Perez was a proud veteran.

"He was so proud to have fought for this country," the neighbor said.

tpignataro@buffnews.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0019-33280782