Dad "allegedly" kills 5-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son after "friendly separation" from mother (Pompton Lakes, New Jersey)

Dad KURTIS V. BIRTH "allegedly" shot to death his 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son after taking them out of daycare. He then offed himself. Seems Dad was going through a "friendly separation" from the children's mother. So if you assume that's true, then you come up with nonsensical theories about inexplicable "snapping" and the like. I suspect that this separation wasn't as "friendly" as all that. This has all the trappings of a classic domestic violence homicide. In these cases, the children are murdered because the abuser needs to reassert his "control" over the situation, and punish the mother for leaving.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/105407858_Father_kills_his_children__then_himself_.html

Pompton Lakes father allegedly kills his two children and himself
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Suburban Trends
STAFF WRITERS

Two children are dead and a community is left wondering why, after a Pompton Lakes father allegedly killed his young son and daughter and then himself Monday night in Ringwood.

At almost 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 18, Ringwood Police officers responded to 21 Skyview Road to check on the welfare of a father and two children after receiving a report from the Pompton Lakes Police Department that a father had removed his two children from a Wayne daycare center and was believed to be headed to his parent's unoccupied Ringwood home, according to a statement released by Ringwood Police Chief Bernard F. Lombardo Tuesday morning.

The house had been unoccupied for some time and has fallen into a state of disrepair, Chief Lombardo said.

When the officers arrived, they report that they saw the suspect's vehicle, a black Nissan Altima, parked in the driveway near the home. What they also saw was a small child, later identified as Jada, 5, lying motionless on the landing of the stairway outside. Officers recovered the child's lifeless body and created a perimeter around the home.

Police then discovered the suspect, Kurtis V. Birth, 38, dead in the driver's seat of his car with a gunshot wound to his head.

When police entered the home, they discovered Birth's other child Jordan, 3, dead with a single gunshot wound, as was Jada. Both children were pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified the children's mother as Zoey Mendoza-Birth, 37, who shared a residence with her husband on Terrace Court in Pompton Lakes.

Chief Lombardo said it is still being investigated whether or not Kurtis Birth owned the rifle police believe he used, or was licensed to possess it.

"The incident is currently under investigation but all indications are that the father killed the two children and then himself," said the Ringwood Police in the Tuesday morning press statement.

According to Chief Lombardo at an Oct. 19 press conference at Ringwood Borough Hall, Mendoza-Birth arrived at the scene of the murder-suicide and was traumatized by what she learned. She was subsequently hospitalized.

"She's obviously traumatized," said Chief Lombardo.

Police investigation

The investigation is being led by Detective Sgt. Paul Rothlauf and Detective James Rapp of the Ringwood Police Department. The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigators are assisting in the investigation.

"This is a tragedy beyond comprehension," said the Ringwood Police in their press release. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families."

Chief Lombardo said there was "nothing to indicate anything like this would ever happen. There was no restraining order and no custody order in place."

Pompton Lakes Police Lt. Steve Seifried confirmed that in checking his department's files, there is no record of any domestic disturbance or police calls to the Births' Pompton Lakes home. The couple had been going through a "friendly separation," and still lived together, said Seifried.

Police are still investigating the background of the relationship between Zoey Mendoza-Birth and Kurtis Birth. Chief Lombardo said they were still married.

Mendoza-Birth had called police after her husband did not return home in a timely manner after picking the kids up at their daycare, said Chief Lombardo.

More details will be released later, he added.

"We're still early on in the investigation," Chief Lombardo said. "I would love to know what would drive anyone to do what he did."

The police investigation is particularly focused on trying to find out why Kurtis Birth apparently snapped.

"We have to try to backtrack his actions during the day to see if there were any triggers," said Chief Lombardo.

"Our concerns are really for the surviving family members," added Chief Lombardo. "It's just beyond comprehension that someone would take their children's lives."

"It's the worst case I've seen in 29 years," he said.

No one was home yesterday morning at the house where the murder took place. Chief Lombardo said the vehicle where the father shot himself has been removed from the scene. The Ringwood Police Department has set up an Office of Emergency Management Mobile command center at the murder scene.

At the Ringwood Borough Hall press conference, Chief Lombardo said the Ringwood and Pompton Lakes communities would rally behind this calamity.

"Ringwood is a great community. It's the type of town where people band together," he said. "I'm sure Pompton Lakes is a similar community, and that they'll band together to help the mother survive such a trauma.

"Something like this rocks the community," said Chief Lombardo, tears welling in his eyes. "It shouldn't happen anywhere and no less a place as great as Ringwood."

Pompton Lakes neighbor Tom Dorsett, 57, said he was stunned by the news. "It is horrific. Absolutely horrifying. Of all people, he looked like he had it pretty well together. He had a beautiful family."

The day before the deaths, Sunday, Oct. 17, Dorsett said he saw Jada and her dad playing ball outside their house on a dead-end street.

"She was a real ham but she was a sweetheart," Dorsett said, adding that Jada liked to play with his dog.

Michelle Fenwick, director of special services for Pompton Lakes schools, said her office was putting together a flier that will go out to area schools today encouraging parents under stress to seek help from mental health agencies, religious groups and other resources.

"In this climate, everyone is under a lot of stress," she said.

According to LinkedIn.com, Kurtis Birth worked as an account executive at Cablevision.

Zoey Mendoza-Birth was listed for the 2008-09 school year as a social worker at Paterson School No. 30 — also known as the Martin Luther King School on 851 East 28th St.