NEW YORK COUPLE JUMP TO THEIR DEATHS CITING FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

A broke Manhattan chiropractor and his wife jumped to their deaths from an office building Friday — leaving suicide notes describing how they “cannot live with” their “financial reality,” law-enforcement sources said.

Glenn Scarpelli, 53, and Patricia Colant, 50 — who had carted trash bags filled with belongings from their home to the curb Thursday — leaped at around 5:45 a.m. from the ninth floor of the Madison Avenue building where they worked.

Their bodies were found sprawled in the middle of East 33rd Street in Murray Hill.

Inside each of their pockets was a suicide note and ID in a plastic baggie — presumably to make sure the letters didn’t get too bloody to read.

Scarpelli titled his typed suicide note, “WE HAD A WONDERFUL LIFE.’’

“Patricia and I had everything in life,” the dad of two wrote.

But the note took a dark turn, describing the couple’s “financial spiral,’’ sources said.

Colant’s letter included contact information for family and friends and instructed that a specific person notify their children about their deaths, a law-enforcement source said.

“I just don’t understand why this would happen, why they would do this to their kids,” said Adam Lamb, a fellow chiropractor who was friends with the couple for 16 years.

Records show the couple, who lived in the Financial District, were drowning in debt and slammed with dozens of tax liens from both the federal and state government.

But “I feel like there’s something else going on,” Lamb said. “Even with all that debt, it still doesn’t make sense.’’

Steve Bogan, a relative of the couple, called their double suicide “very shocking.”

“Right now, everybody’s in a daze,” he said.


The couple, described by several friends as warm, doting parents, leaves two children — Joseph, 19, and Isabella, 20 — who recently graduated from the Upper East Side’s Loyola HS, where tuition is nearly $38,000 a year.

Last year, Joseph said in a school speech that his parents once gave him advice on how to cope if he lost “everyone I love.”

“I am going to share with you some advice given to me by my own parents when I was younger,” Joseph told his Loyola classmates at a morning assembly in March 2016.

“My parents repeatedly told me that I could wake up one day and lose everyone I love, but no one will ever be able to take away my faith.”

Joseph attends the University of Miami School of Business Administration, while his sister is enrolled at St. Edwards University in Texas, according to the high school’s alumni magazine.

“They were both beautiful people,” said a former Loyola student who is friends with Isabella. “They were a big Italian family, always inviting people over for the Festival of the Seven Fishes.

They were always involved in school.

“Their kids didn’t know anything about their financial problems,” she added. “None of us did. He seemed like he loved his job.”

But one lien against from September showed the couple owed $23,304 in federal taxes, while another in April 2015 indicated a $232,295 debt.

In 2013, the feds took legal action against Scarpelli for failing to pay back a nearly $60,000 student loan he took out in 2000 while studying at the Logan College of Chiropractic in Chesterfield, Mo.

According to a 2016 GOBankingRates study, the No. 1 cause of financial stress for people in New York is paying down debt, with the average balance per person hitting around $50,000.

But the couple’s friends were taken aback by the suicides.

Noel McDermott, who owns Beckett’s Bar & Grill, which was near their office, described them as “great parents.”

“They were always with their kids,” he said. “They were genuinely down-to-earth, happy-go-lucky people.”

Scarpelli was a former president of the New York Chiropractic Council, which is raising money for the couple’s kids on a GoFundMe page.

“This horrific event has left their two children, Isabella and Joseph, without the love, support and guidance of their loving parents,” the page says.

“Glenn and Patricia were the embodiment of serving out of love, and giving out of abundance.”

A lawyer for the family, Mathew Levy, said in a statement that they are “distraught.”

“We ask that you respect their privacy as they gather information,” he said.

Scarpelli ran the Madison Wellness Center with his wife, who was his receptionist, an acquaintance said.

A neighbor at the family’s home said there were several items such as lamps and full trash bags dumped on the street in front of the their residence on Thursday.

They had recently requested a change of address at their office, a local mail carrier said.

“That was their business,” she said, describing the couple as “inseparable.” “I guess they were closing up. That was their passion project.”

14 thoughts on “NEW YORK COUPLE JUMP TO THEIR DEATHS CITING FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

  1. Sad situation, but it seems like they were living well above their means. High living cost, high rent, kids going to private schools, debt growing because they diverting the money to maintain the lifestyle. Poor kids.

    1. Agree! With so many good/great public schools in New York City, why spend $38K per year for high school? Then sending one of the kids to University of Miami for Business Administration degree, where the Tuition alone is $47K per year (and total Cost Of Attendance is close to $64K per year). Their son could have attended CUNY-Baruch College (a great business school) for $6,500 per year.

      St. Edward’s University total Cost Of Attendance is close to $57K per year and it is not a highly rated institution liberal arts Roman Catholic university. Again, the daughter could have gone to one of the CUNYs for $6.5k and live at home. I guess they were trying to keep up with the Joneses.

      Maybe they did this for their kids, who stand to inherit the proceeds from life insurance policies.

      1. Great points but I don’t think life insurance is paid out for suicide. In fact there’s usually an anti suicide clause in the policy.

        Ppl make money rule them too much,even if you owe n can’t pay, what’s the worst that can happen? You go jail for a short time and it’s not among hardened criminals either.

        I could n would never kill myself over money issues. .nope mi nah dweet.Only if smaddie acid me n even then me a do up a list of evil Ppl to kill n see how much mi can bump off then mi kill myself!

        1. Actually, the suicide clause that I’m familiar with states that you cannot claim an insurance payout if the insured death is caused by suicide WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR or TWO of the policy.
          ————————————————–

          “Almost all 99% of life insurance policies pay death benefits to a policyholder’s beneficiaries. So, it’s pretty much guaranteed that your family will receive a payout when you die.

          But how about that 1% of rejected life insurance claims — are suicide cases among them? Unfortunately for beneficiaries, they are. Insurers can reject coverage for suicide, but only if the suicide happens within a specific period of time.

          When Is Suicide Covered?
          For every insurance policy, there are two exclusions that dictate if and when suicide is covered.

          1) The Suicide Clause

          A life insurance company won’t pay death benefits if the policyholder commits suicide within a specific period of time after their policy takes effect. In most states, that period is two years.

          However, after those two years are up, the suicide clause no longer applies. If the policyholder commits suicide after the clause has expired, their life insurance claim typically can’t be contested. Their beneficiaries will likely receive the full payout.”

          http://www.insuranceclarity.com/life/life-insurance-suicide-clause

      2. Quite so, but does any Insurance Policy pay out if suicide is the cause of death? I dont think so….but I could be wrong. Sad all around

  2. I think there is more to the situation …
    speculating that they are italian aka Mafia business
    Because they were living well above their means for people who were in so much debt .. tell that to the judge ! RIP THO

    1. Keep the faith enuh nice lady because dem sey only salvation lasts forever, so this too shall pass!!There’s always tremendously more things n ppl to live for than to die for!Bless up Side Chick and loving it and same way suh Met!

  3. Thanks Aunty met.. I am waiting patiently. I know I am next in line for my blessings

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