Photo: Loren Marino/Facebook
The friend of an aspiring New England nurse said she was killed by her boyfriend of only two months into their relationship in a murder-suicide incident.
Loren Marino and Austin Amaral, both 24, were found dead inside her Haverhill, Massachusetts apartment on Sunday (March 3) by a downstairs neighbor at around 5:45 p.m., Boston 25 News reports. Marino's two dogs were reported to be near her and Amaral's bodies when they were located.
Investigators believe Amaral shot and killed Marino, who was found with gunshot wounds, before dying by suicide, a spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney's Office told Boston 25 News. Katie Iandolo, Marino's best friend, who was returning from Las Vegas when she learned of her friend's death, told the news station that Amaral was "obsessed" after the couple began dating only two months prior to their deaths.
“There was a lot of obsession with him. He kind of came and never left,” Iandolo said. “He didn’t want anybody but him to have a relationship with her.”
Iandolo said Amaral, who Marino knew prior to their new relationship, began to show warning signs of "psychotic" boyfriend behavior in the weeks leading up to the incident. Amaral also reportedly flaunted two guns inside Marino's apartment one month before their deaths.
Iandolo said she raised concern to Marino, who assured her things were fine, before Iandolo witnessed Amaral become physically violent toward Marino weeks prior to her death.
“He shoved her into a dresser hard. I kind of freaked out on him,” Iandolo told Boston 25 News. “He was so psychotic in his eyes when he was yelling at me.”
Iandolo said Amaral forced Marino to distance herself after she called out his abusive behavior.
“While she was sleeping, he took her phone and blocked me from it,” Iandolo said. “He removed me from her Facebook, her Snapchat and her Instagram.”
“We had an instant connection. The day we met, we used to call each other soul sisters,” she added. “I loathe him. He took my best friend from me.”