By KEITH GRANT
According to Nassau County police, Frank Sciccatino, 75, and Janice Kaufman, 57, were found dead on Tuesday night in Kaufman's home at 230 West Broadway. Sciccatino's wounds were found to be self-inflicted.
Long Beach police referred inquiries to Nassau County, whose lead investigator was not available for comment before press time. However, a source in the Long Beach Police Department confirmed that the tragedy appeared to be a murder/suicide. Sciccatino, the source said, appeared to have stabbed Kaufman in her West Broadway apartment, and is believed to have then used the same instrument to take his own life.
According to the LBPD source, the woman's daughter had not been able to reach her mother since Sunday afternoon. The daughter and her husband, residents of Valley Stream, went to visit her mother Tuesday evening, around 7:30 p.m. Police were not sure if the couple had a key to the apartment or found the door unlocked, but upon entering they discovered blood on the floor, backed out and called police.
Two Long Beach police officers responded to the scene.
They found the woman deceased in the kitchen, the police source said. They then searched the apartment and found the boyfriend dead in the shower.
A knife was found in Sciccatino's hands, but it was not known yet whether or not it was the murder weapon, the suicide weapon, or both. The source said there was no evidence that a gun was used.
The officer said the couple was known to have had an on-again, off-again relationship. Though Sciccatino had his own home in Long Beach at 527 W. Fulton St., he spent some time at the West Broadway apartment, the source said.
Barbara Pleener, a neighbor of Kaufman's for the past five years, said the couple was separated, but Sciccatino still came around often and the relationship between the two seemed somewhat tumultuous.
They used to argue, Pleener said. You could hear them argue regularly. But they were always very nice people, nice to talk to. They were pleasant neighbors. It's sad.
Louis and Elaine Shusterman, residents of the same floor as Kaufman, said they actually never heard the couple argue.
She was always a lovely lady, Louis Shusterman said. And he was a nice guy. We never heard any arguing.
Joe Kellard contributed to
this story.
