A New Jersey state trooper, who had previously been assigned to protect the governor, shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend before taking his own life, after months of stalking her after their breakup. Law enforcement has since launched an investigation into the deaths and ruled the incident a case of murder-suicide.
Franklin Township police responded to a home in Pittstown at around 12:20 p.m. on Saturday after receiving a report about an unresponsive woman, according to a statement released Monday by the Hunterdon County prosecutors. Inside the home, officers found Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29, both dead in what prosecutors described as a "targeted attack."
Crime of Passion
Investigators quickly identified Ricardo Santos, 45, a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police and Semanchik's former boyfriend, as a potential suspect and launched a search to trace him.
Shortly after the search was underway, Santos was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his 2008 white Mercedes in Piscataway, roughly 50 miles from the crime scene, according to prosecutors.
A semiautomatic pistol, suspected to be the weapon used in the killings, was found next to him.
Investigators later learned that the night before the incident, Franklin Township police had responded to a 911 call reporting "audible gunshots and screaming" near Semanchik's home. However, officers were unable to determine the exact location of the sounds.
Authorities also found out that Semanchik, a veterinarian, had installed surveillance cameras in her car after reporting that Santos had been stalking her.
Video footage showed her car leaving her veterinary clinic in Long Valley at 5:25 p.m. on Friday.
Footage from the rear camera captured Santos' Mercedes tailing Semanchik closely from her workplace to her home. She arrived at her home just before 6 p.m., and around ten minutes later, someone was seen coming out of the wooded area near her driveway.
Roughly thirty minutes after that, Webb's car pulled up and parked beside Semanchik's vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Trailed and Killed His Target
Semanchik's family told CBS News that it was her father who found the bodies of his daughter and Webb on Saturday. They said it looked as though "she was trying to run away" at the time she was killed. "She was shot in the back," said Semanchik's sister, Deanna. "She gave so much of her life to other people and she deserved so much better."
The family described the disturbing chain of events that unfolded after Semanchik broke off her relationship with Santos in September 2024.
Their relationship had lasted just three months before she ended it, but not long after, the state trooper began stalking and "harassing" her, according to the family. "She tried to block him many times and he continued to call her from restricted numbers. He showed up at her work, that's where the car was keyed," Deanna Semanchik told the outlet.
"He put recording devices in her home, water in her gas tank. He harassed her left and right."
Jeannine Semanchik, the victim's mother, said her daughter tried to alert authorities about her unstable ex-boyfriend, but no action was taken to ensure her safety. "A lot of agencies failed her. She tried to get restraining orders. Nobody called her back," Jeannine Semanchik said.
Santos had earlier worked as a supervisor on Governor Phil Murphy's security team, according to CBS News.
Semanchik completed both her undergraduate and veterinary studies at the University of Wisconsin and was a well-loved veterinarian at Long Valley Animal Hospital, known for her exceptional dedication to caring for animals.
