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Florida mom kills her two teens, self in murder-suicide month after divorce: cops

Richard Berman, newly divorced from Jennifer Berman, found her and their kids, Alex, 16, and Jacqueline, 15, dead in their West Palm Beach home. Jennifer Berman had deep financial woes and had even resorted to selling her late father's watch to buy gas and clothing for her kids. Her ex, meanwhile, is a prominent realtor.

By Sasha Goldstein - New York Daily News

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Her financial woes and personal issues drove a Florida woman over the edge - and beyond.

The distraught mother of two talented teen musicians shot her kids dead before turning the gun on herself in a gruesome double-murder suicide.

Richard Berman, 51, found his bullet-ridden children, Alex, 16, and Jacqueline, 15, and their mother, Jennifer Berman, 48, dead of a suicide in their West Palm Beach home Monday morning — just hours after he received an email from the maniacal mom threatening harm to their shared children.

Cops released the disturbing 911 calls from the moment Richard Berman and a neighbor discovered the bodies Monday morning.

“It looks like she’s laid in bed but she doesn’t have a face,” the shaken neighbor tells the dispatcher of the suicidal mom. "I think the girl's up in bed with her but when I saw what was upstairs I had to run back downstairs."

Richard Berman tells 911 that he was heading to the house after his "ex-wife said she was going to harm the kids."

"She sent me an email that she did the best thing for our family," Richard tells a police dispatcher as he called 911 en route to the home. "And then she sent her cousin a text that she was going to kill the kids and herself."

Richard and Jennifer Berman had only divorced in December, WPEC-TV reported, weeks after Jennifer’s mother had died last fall. Their home, on Pershing Way just off the Lake Worth Lagoon, was in foreclosure, the TV station reports, and the kids and their mother were to move out in February.

"Oh, s--t," Richard Berman says in the newly released 911 call after he finds his dead son in the house. "I was just touching his head. He wasn't waking up. His alarm was on, he wasn't waking up, there's blood in his ear."

The marital, and financial, woes in the family had existed for years.

Richard Berman originally filed for divorce in 2008 - 16 years after they first married, the Palm Beach Post reported. The family was living lush for years, but by early last year, Jennifer Berman was struggling to get by without her ex-husband any longer in her life. The mom-of-two could no longer pay her divorce attorney in April and was in such financial straits, she was forced to sell her late father's watch, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The family home had actually once belonged to Jennifer Berman's mother and had been in foreclosure since 2010.

"The husband has not paid the mortgage on the former marital home during the entire time of the dissolution of marriage proceeding," read documents filed in court in May by Jennifer Berman. "He has not contributed to the support of the wife or of the minor children. In fact, he has refused to pay for toilet paper, buys food and supplies for himself and keeps them where the wife and children cannot access them.”

Once a realtor, Jennifer Berman was forced to work 12-hour overnight shifts as a nurse to make any income to support her children.

Richard Berman is a successful realtor who sells multi-million dollar homes in South Florida.

Neighbors recalled Jennifer Berman as a normal, loving mother — until recently.

“A couple of days ago, she was different,” Marian Sklodowski told WSVN-TV. “You could see it in her face, there was something missing, something disturbed in her mind. The conversation, the language, the eyes … something was missing.”

The teens were talented musicians attending the nearby Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, a prestigious arts high school in southern Florida. Alex played cello while his older sister, a straight-A student, played violin.

Grief counselors were made available at the teens’ school this week as their friends and peers come to grips with a tragedy of which police have yet to determined a motive.

"Going through a divorce, foreclosure, a lot of that stuff which, it's an upsetting thing when you're going through a divorce and having to sell the beautiful house in this neighborhood, and it's just, she just seemed like she had been upset lately,” family friend Brian McManus told WSVN. "You can't fathom, you can't understand what's going on in someone's head for things like that to happen."

  

'He's not moving... I can't believe this is happening': Horrifying 911 call from luxury realtor when he discovered his dead children after broke ex-wife emailed to say she was going to kill them

• Jennifer Berman wrote ex-husband Richard an email threatening to harm herself and children Alexander 16, and Jacqueline, 15

• A 911 tape released on Tuesday details the tense moments before and after Berman discovered the bloodied bodies of his children

• 'It looks like she's laid in bed but she doesn't have a face,' neighbor says on another 911 call

• Mrs Berman and her husband had divorced in December and their home had been sold; the mother and her children were to move out in February

• Richard Berman is a well-known realtor in West Palm Beach, Florida

• His estranged wife 'petitioned a judge to ask her husband for grocery money in April after she was forced to pawn her late father's watch'

By Louise Boyle and Paul Thompson and Joshua Gardner - DailyMail.co.uk

January 15, 2014

A dramatic 911 tape released Tuesday details the horrifying moment a Florida father realizes his ex-wife has murdered their teen son and daughter before killing herself.

Richard Berman, 51, rushed to the West Palm Beach home he once shared with his family on Monday immediately after his ex-wife Jennifer Berman, 48, announced her crazed intention to murder their children.

Despite the dispatcher's repeated warnings, he went inside and encountered an unimaginably grisly scene.

'He’s not moving, there’s blood on his ear,' the luxury realtor manages to sputter after finding the body of his 16-year-old son. 'I can’t believe this is happening.'

In the tense moments before it became all too clear that 15-year-old daughter Jacqueline and son Alexander were shot dead by their own mother, Berman told the 911 operator he was terrified to enter the house.

'She sent her cousin a text that she was going to kill the kids and herself,' Berman's said as he at first waited outside for police as the operator instructed.

But then a neighbor decided to enter the home in his stead and moments later came back screaming, according to the Palm Beach Post.

'There's blood on the walls,' the shocked neighbor yelled.

'It looks like she's laid in bed but she doesn’t have a face,' the neighbor added. 'I think the girl's up in bed with her but when I saw what was upstairs I had to run back downstairs.'

That's when, in the frenzy of the moment, Berman entered the home and saw the horror for himself.

'I was just all touching his head and he wasn’t waking up. His alarm was on and there was blood in his ear,' he said, his voice cracking.

Police then arrived and confirmed the worst.

Now reports of battles over money and the family's foreclosed home are all the clues left that can paint a picture of what drove a mother to madness.

Jennifer Berman had reportedly taken her ex-husband to court for financial support after she was forced to sell her father's watch to pay for gas and groceries.

Berman, a prominent realtor in luxury homes, and his wife divorced in December. Mrs Berman claimed in court documents that she was struggling financially, taking 12-hour overnight shifts as a nurse to make ends meet.

The mother and her two children were due to move out of their home in the exclusive, historically-protected El Cid neighborhood next month.

Police were alerted by Mr Berman to the tragic multiple shooting shortly after 8am. Investigators said the deaths are being treated as a murder-suicide after all three died from gunshot wounds. Mr Berman was not considered a suspect, police said.

Family friend Brian McManus told WSVN that Mrs Berman had recently been going through a difficult time in her life.

Mr McManus said: 'Going through a divorce, foreclosure, a lot of that stuff which, it's an upsetting thing when you're going through a divorce and having to sell the beautiful house in this neighborhood, and it's just she just seemed like she had been upset lately.

'You can't fathom, you can't understand what's going on in someone's head for things like that to happen.'

Last year, Mrs Berman had also petitioned a judge to remove her husband from the home because of 'emotional abuse'.

The family had previously lived at another home in the historic and exclusive El Cid neighborhood which sold for $1.2million in 2010.

The home in which the murder suicide took place had previously belonged to Jennifer Berman's mother. The property had been in foreclosure since 2010 but was recently sold. The mother and her two children were due to move out in February.

Mrs Berman had been working 12-hour shifts as a night nurse for an elderly man because she needed the money, a friend, who refused to be identified, told the Palm Beach Post.

Mrs Berman lost her divorce lawyer because she could not afford to pay him last year.

According to the Palm Beach Post, she asked a judge to make her husband pay alimony and child support, claiming she was forced to sell her late father's watch to buy gas and groceries.

Court records from the attorney's of Mrs Berman claimed: 'The husband has not paid the mortgage on the former marital home during the entire time of the dissolution of marriage proceeding. He has not contributed to the support of the wife or of the minor children.

'In fact, he has refused to pay for toilet paper, buy food and supplies for himself and keeps them where the wife and children cannot access them.'

The Bermans married in 1992 in Miami. Mr Berman first filed for divorce in 2008 but the couple reconciled. Mrs Berman filed for divorced in August 2012 but the couple remained living under the same roof for a while.

Last year, Mrs Berman allegedly asked a judge to remove her husband from the home, according to the Palm Beach Post, because of 'extreme emotional abuse and fighting (verbal) in home'.

The couple shared equal custody of their two teenage children.

Neighbor Marian Sklodowski said that Mrs Berman had recently appeared 'upset, disappointed and confused'.

'You can notice that, from the face, from the eyes, something was strange in her face,' she added.

The teens attended the Dreyfoos School of Arts and were promising musicians, their devastated friends said.

Close friends and fellow musicians said they will remember Alexander Berman for being an accomplished cello player while his sister Jacqueline was extremely talented at the violin and a straight A student.

Grief counselors were on hand at the school to help classmates cope with the tragedy.

'At first it was just disbelief, going through stages of grief all at once. It's shocking to hear when it's one of your friends, you hear this on the news and don't think it will happen to you,' a friend told WPTV.

'Everyone was crying, everyone was silent, it was a sad environment,' another student added.