Toddler was in crib when Closter man strangled, stabbed wife then stabbed himself in murder-suicide

UPDATE: A Closter man strangled and stabbed his wife once in the chest with a kitchen knife before stabbing himself in the chest in their bedroom as their 15-month-old son lay in his crib nearby, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

Photo Credit: *Cliffview Pilot File Photo*

Jerry DeMarco

02/08/2015 4:23 p.m.

A motive for the murder-suicide hadn’t yet been determined, he said.

The parents of Michael Tabacchi, 27, found his body and that of 41-year-old Denise Iran Pars Tabacchi in their High Street home after receiving a text from their son “asking them to come to the house” around 11 p.m. Friday, Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Their 15-month-old son August was found safe in his crib nearby, the prosecutor said.

James, Silvana Tabacchi with Augie (FB PHOTO)

James and Silvana Tabacchi then went to a next-door neighbor, an EMT, who Molinelli said called 911.

The neighbor, former Closter Volunteer Ambulance Capt. Lisa Vreeland, rushed over to try and resuscitate the victims, but it was too late. Both were taken to Englewood Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

Authorities had to await the results of autopsies conducted by the Bergen County Medical Examiner last night to determine the sequence of events the night before, the prosecutor said.

“It’s a shame,” Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT yesterday. “‘I’m thankful that the young baby is OK.”

Young “Augie” was with the elder Tabacchis, he said.

Michael and Denise were married in a civil ceremony at Ridgefield Park Town Hall in May 2013, followed by a church wedding at St. Joseph’s in Demarest last May.

Denise Pars when she worked at the Westside Village Tavern in Ridgefield Park (2011)

A Bergen Catholic High School hockey player and Cliffside Park native, Michael Tabacchi worked for JP Morgan Chase in Manhattan. His parents live in Demarest.

Originally from Hillsdale, Denise Pars Tabacchi was an administrative assistant at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Before that the William Paterson University graduate worked at the Westside Village Tavern in Ridgefield Park.

Pars also was an actress, appearing in a couple of TV pilots, and worked as an intern with 103.5 WKTU-FM, CNBC, and Howard Stern, who named her one of his Intern Beauty Pageant winners.

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