Apparent NY suicide brings a tragedy full circle

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — The former prosecutor who handled the New York slaying of newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas says her daughter’s apparent suicide 15 years later is the result of a “ripple effect.”

Jeanine Pirro (PEER’-oh) says the death last week of Anne Morell Petrillo was essentially the attack’s third fatality.

She says it might have been an eerie re-enactment of the suicide of her stepfather, who killed her mother.

A body believed to be Petrillo’s was found Sunday in the Hudson River beneath the Tappan Zee (TAP’-ehn zee) Bridge north of New York City. Her BMW was found on the bridge Thursday with a suicide note inside.

Pirro notes that Petrillo and her stepfather were 38, jumped from nearly the same spot and both left BMWs on the bridge.