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April 14, 2008

Police: Husband left suicide note, as well as warning

CUMBERLAND -- Norman V. Langelier, who police believe killed his wife, then himself in an explosive fire that destroyed their home last Thursday, left an apparent suicide note in his truck outside the home, police revealed today.

But police would not reveal its contents, and they say they will not be commenting on what may be the possible motives for the crime anytime soon.

“Even if we found out the reasons we would not tell the public,” said Deputy Chief Michael Kinch. “It does not benefit the family.”

Kinch said that police are confident that Langelier, 61, killed his wife Beatrice A. Langelier, 60, before rigging the couple’s home at 500 Nate Whipple Highway to explode and taking his own life early Thursday morning.

Kinch said today that police based their conclusion on a note Langelier left, along with other personal effects, in his truck as well as the state medical examiners' autopsy report, which concluded on Friday that Beatrice died from skull fractures and brain injuries resulting from a gunshot wound to the head.

The medical examiners' report said that Norman died from multiple blunt force injuries, which police said was consistent with the explosions that Langelier apparently set off.

Kinch would not say what information the apparent suicide note contained. Police said previously that Langelier had left a note outside of the house warning firefighters of the explosives, gunpowder and ammunition inside the burning house.

The note to emergency responders, written on a large piece of paper affixed to a propane tank in the trunk of his pickup truck, was in Norman’s handwriting and consistent with the handwriting of the suicide note found in the truck, said Kinch.

“Everything points to him writing the note,” he said.

Kinch said that detectives are satisfied in their questioning of family members and business acquaintances and their research into the couple’s past. However, he would not name whom police interviewed and what was found during the investigation, which is ongoing.

-- Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo

Police originally assigned five detectives to the investigation in the wake of Thursday’s fire; the department has pared that down to one lead detective, Richard Quinn, who will write the final report on the case, Kinch said.

Meanwhile, as questions around how Beatrice spent her final hours before she was murdered also remain unanswered, her family has made preparations for her burial. Funeral arrangements for Norman will be held separately, her family said.

A wake will be held at Holt Funeral Home at 510 So. Main Street in Woonsocket from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Smithfield, with the burial to follow in the parish cemetery.

Norman was the president of Barber Electric Manufacturing Company, a producer of metal electrical equipment and supplies in North Attleboro; Beatrice was a homemaker. They had no children.

In lieu of flowers the family is asking that contributions be made to the Friends of North Smithfield Animal Shelter, PO Box 391, Slatersville, RI 02876.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:43 PM | Permalink

April 14, 2008

Police: Husband left suicide note, as well as warning

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