Radnor Township, PA. – Pennsylvania Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide near Villanova University, according Radnor Township police.
Just after 7:00 last night, authorities responded to a home in the unit block of Lowrys Lane for reports of gunfire. As ambulance crews and police responded to the scene they were told that there were two people down and that blood was everywhere.
Upon arrival responding officers found two deceased woman in the home.
Police believe that Jennair Gerardot (police spelling Gennair Gerardot), 47, of Wilmington, De., entered the property by breaking a pain of glass in the door. After she entered the home it’s believed that she cleaned up the glass, and placed it in a trash can. She then waited for Chapman to return home, according to authorities.
At a press conference this afternoon, Radnor Police said that Jennair Gerardot, shot Meredith Chapman as soon as she walked into her home, Gerardot then turned the gun on herself.
Gennair Gerardot’s husband, Mark Gerardot was at the home when police arrived, according to William A. Colarulo, Radnor Superintendent of Police. Mark Gerardot had dinner plans with Chapman and when she didn’t show up he went to the house to check on her, Colarulo added.
“You had a man that was married, that was having affair with this other woman, the wife knew about it and this was a calculated plan”, said Colarulo.
There are e-mails and text messages regarding what she was planning to do. The detectives are still sorting that out, , said Colarulo.
Meredith Chapman is a former candidate for Delaware’s State Senate and the ex-wife of a former Newark city councilman Luke Chapman.
Meredith Chapman, who had been the University of Delaware’s director for digital communications, recently took a job at Villanova, as the Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services, according to her Linkedin page.
A porch light is on at the Chapman residence in Newark’s Fairfield Crest neighborhood, but there is no police activity at the home.