SUFFERN – The combination of pressures over stolen money, illegal drug use and an ongoing police investigation into a stolen rifle closing in on them led a Suffern man and woman to murder her uncle in the home they shared and then take their own lives by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on Monday, according to Suffern police.

Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn explained the investigation is still far from complete, but he said complicated troubles inside a seemingly peaceful home just a few blocks from his office at Suffern Village Hall led to the slaying of longtime resident William Valenti, 70, of 88 Washington Ave., in his home. Additionally, he said it’s clear that Nicki Hunt Circelli, Valenti’s niece, and her boyfriend Gary Crockett, 41, tried to deceive relatives about Valenti’s death to give them time to get away after asphyxiating him.

The murder and suicides have stunned residents of Suffern, where there has not been a murder since a local business owner killed his wife and them killed himself in 2000. Additionally, murder victim William Valenti was well-known as a hard-working local resident who operated a food truck that served businesses in the nearby Mahwah, NJ, area.

“This is a small village where everyone knows everybody,” said Osborn. “This definitely sent shock waves through this community.”

Suffern police said it was Valenti’s food truck business that led to the discovery of his murder on Monday and the eventual connection between a double suicide the same day at the George Washington Bridge. Osborn said Valenti’s partner in the food truck business became worried when he did not show up for work and went to his home along with Valenti’s nephew to check on him.

When they got to the home, Osborne said there was a note on the door left by Nicki Hunt Circelli and Gary Crockett saying they had taken Valenti to the hospital.

“This was an intentional deception effort,” Osborn said.

Although Valenti did have medical issues, police learned he was not taken to any hospitals. Village police officers went into Valenti’s home about 1:15 p.m. on Monday and discovered his body in his bedroom. Nicki Hunt Circelli and Gary Crockett, who lived with Valenti, were nowhere to be found and a green Chevy Malibu owned by Valenti was missing.

Notes written by Nicki Hunt Circelli found inside the house, police said, indicated that she and Gary Crockett intended to kill themselves. While the notes did not claim responsibility for Valenti’s death, police said the notes were an apology to family members – including Nicki Hunt Circelli’s four children – for problems in her life that affected them. She even noted that she wanted to be known by the family name Hunt in the newspapers when stories would be written about her.

Money and drugs and hard times, then a violent end

Both Hunt and Crockett had been in trouble with police previously and were in a financial dispute with Valenti.

Police said Hunt had been charged in Orange County with grand larceny and forgery, and that Crockett was previously charged with drug possession. Additionally, Crockett, who worked part-time for a moving company in New Jersey, was a person of interest in a Mahwah investigation of a AR-15 military-style rifle stolen March 1 from a home where the moving company had worked.

Osborn said an investigation also discovered their was an ongoing dispute between Valenti, Hunt and Crockett over about $1,500 stolen from Valenti’s bank account through several forged checks. With the ongoing police investigation into the stolen gun, and a deadline Valenti had set for repayment of the stolen money approaching, Osborn said it appears Hunt and Crockett were despondent over their situation. Osborn also said drug abuse by Hunt and Crockett appears to be a factor in the murder and the suicides.

Until the discovery of Valenti’s body, police said they did not know of any problems at the home. Valenti had not filed a complaint about the forged checks, and police had not been called to the home for any disturbances.

The Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office, police said, have determined Valenti’s death was a homicide, caused by some form of asphyxiation. Osborn said the investigation is continuing to determine exactly how Valenti was killed.

As Suffern detectives began their investigation on Monday, they were uncertain where they would be able to find Hunt and Crockett. A break came that night when Suffern Police dispatcher Jeremy Kaufer saw a news story reporting that a man and a woman had jumped to their deaths from the George Washington Bridge. He mentioned the story to Suffern Police Officer Lou Venturini, who then alerted village detectives.

Osborn said the combination of the notes found at the Valenti home and that they were seeking a man and a woman made the George Washington Bridge incident seem worth checking out. On Tuesday, Suffern police took family members to the New York City morgue and were able to identify the suicide victims as Hunt and Crockett.

While the bodies did not have any identification, police said the key to Valenti’s missing car was found on Hunt’s body. The car had not been located as of this morning.

Both Hunt and Crockett were Suffern-area natives. At the Valenti home, his silver food truck was still parked behind the house.

In addition to the Medical Examiner’s Office, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification is assisting in the investigation.

Article by award-winning newsman Bill Demarest, Editor of Nyack Free Press, who has been a reporter and editor covering New York and New Jersey for more than 30 years.