Glen Scarpelli, 53 and his wife, 50-year-old Patricia Colant were carrying zip lock bags containing suicide notes and their IDs when they committed suicide by jumping from their office building in Midtown Manhattan on Friday.
‘Financial spiral’ leads to suicide of couple
Scarpelli, a chiropractor, and his wife blamed a “financial spiral” for their choice in taking their own lives, but did also say they had a “wonderful life.” According to sources, the Couple jumped from Scarpelli’s ninth floor office on Madison Avenue at around 5:45 a.m. on Friday.
Where do they think they are escaping to????
— Lori Thompson (@LoriThompson13) July 28, 2017
“We had a wonderful life,” read one of the notes that also made... https://t.co/PZVpKaE6Ke
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said in a statement that the source of Scarpelli and Colant’s financial problems was at this stage unclear. Boyce said they still had to investigate further. However, The New York Daily News reports that records show the chiropractor was heavily in debt to both the state and federal government. Their report states Scarpelli owned $213,000 to the federal government, along with unpaid taxes of $42,000 from 2003. Reportedly back in December 2013, a Manhattan federal court judge had ordered him to pay almost $62,000 relating to unpaid loans received for his attendance at the Logan College of Chiropractic.
Couple leaves behind two children
Scarpelli and Colant leave behind a 19-year-old son, Joseph Scarpelli and a 20-year-old daughter, Isabella. Neither of their children was reportedly aware of their financial problems. However, as reported by the New York Post, Joseph had given a speech at a morning assembly at Loyola High School in March 2016, passing on some advice from his parents.
Joseph said his parents had given him advice on how to cope in the event that he lost everyone he loved. He went on to tell his schoolmates that Scarpelli and Colant had repeatedly told him that he could wake up one day and find he had lost everyone he loved, but that nobody would be able to take away his faith.
Why? Glenn Scarpelli and Patricia Colant jump to their suicide deaths https://t.co/Z8ne3yYUYo via @scallywagnyc
— David Ware (@WillowVane) July 29, 2017
Scarpelli and Colant were ‘beautiful people’
A woman who knew Isabella at Loyola High School said her parents were “beautiful people,” who were always involved in the school. She said they were a friendly Italian family, always inviting people over. She said the Scarpelli children had no idea of their parent’s financial troubles, saying none of them did and that Scarpelli appeared to love his job.
Robert Bisaccia Jr. worked in the same building as Scarpelli as an architectural consultant. He said Scarpelli always seemed to be a happy guy, adding that he cannot comprehend why the couple committed suicide.
