FBI looks at money trail in 4 deaths

April 23, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — A New York tax attorney’s investment dealings are being investigated by the FBI after he beat and asphyxiated his wife and daughters in a Maryland hotel room, then answered a call from his daughter’s college roommate before killing himself, authorities said Wednesday.

The bodies were discovered Monday in a hotel north of Baltimore. Police provided new details about the crime Wednesday, saying William Parente, 59, of Garden City, N.Y., killed his wife, Betty Parente, 58, and their daughters, 19-year-old Stephanie and 11-year-old Catherine. The couple and their younger daughter were in Maryland to visit Stephanie, a sophomore at Loyola College in Baltimore.

Betty and the daughters, who were found on the bed, died from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation, Baltimore County police spokesman Cpl. Mike Hill said. Hill said William Parente, who was found in the bathroom, died by cutting himself.

Investigators were unable to determine if there was a struggle or whether objects found in the room were used in the killings or another object was used and later disposed of, Hill said.

Police Chief Jim Johnson said William Parente answered a phone call from Stephanie’s roommate to the hotel room around midnight, after investigators believe he killed his wife and daughters.

Hill said investigators do not have a motive and have not determined whether the deaths were related to any financial problems.

James Margolin, an FBI spokesman in New York, confirmed that the FBI began investigating William Parente’s investment business dealing after the deaths but declined to provide more details.

The New York state attorney general’s office said it received a complaint from a man who says he invested hundreds of thousands of dollars with William M. Parente and had trouble getting his money back.

Bruce Montague, 47, a Queens lawyer, told Newsday that he recently received six checks worth about $450,000 from Parente. Montague said Parente told him he could deposit two of the checks but asked him to wait with the others. Montague said a bank official told him the four others would not clear.