Man Allegedly Violently Murdered Girlfriend In Front Of Her Two Young Daughters

A Massachusetts man has been charged with killing his girlfriend in front of the victim’s two young children in Pennsylvania.

Thadius William McGrath, 35, was charged with multiple crimes connected with the murder of Samantha Jean Rementer, 31, the Bucks County District Attorney announced Tuesday.

Officials say McGrath beat and strangled Rementer — who is referred to as McGrath’s “paramour” in the criminal complaint — before attempting suicide at Rementer’s Holland, Pennsylvania home northeast of Philadelphia.

Northampton Township Police responded to Rementer's Clark Court address following requests for a well-being check shortly after 5:00 p.m. on June 8. McGrath’s mother reportedly called authorities, claiming she'd spoken to her son on the phone and that he was “possibly suicidal.”

Officers entered the home when no one responded to their knocking and found a 4-year-old girl “covered in blood.”

“[Daddy] killed Mommy because she was annoying him,” the child told officers. “And then [Daddy] shot himself accidentally.”

A 1-year-old girl was also found unharmed in a high chair, according to the complaint.

Once officers safely removed the children from the property, they reentered the residence, finding Rementer on the floor of a rear bedroom. Police stated she sustained what appeared to be blunt force trauma to her face, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

“An electrical cord, still attached to a large floor lamp, was wrapped around the female’s neck,” police stated. “The floor lamp was observed to be covered in blood. Also located in this bedroom was a black three-step ladder.”

A postmortem examination would reveal the cause of death as ligature strangulation.

Continuing their search of the home, officers found Thadius McGrath “moaning and moving his hands,” following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers said he was “covered in blood, including his mouth, where it appeared that [McGrath] was missing teeth.”

They found a black Smith & Wesson .9mm semi-automatic pistol and a spent casing near McGrath.

The suspect was taken to the Saint Mary Medical Center in Langhorne before being transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Police interviewed McGrath’s father on June 9, who allegedly said that his son had confessed to strangling Rementer to death, according to the criminal complaint.

McGrath also allegedly confessed to police when they spoke to him on June 27. Investigators say he told them that he hit Rementer with the step ladder and then with the lamp “after she made him mad” in her daughters' bedroom. 

“Thadius McGrath stated that both young girls were present for the killing of Samantha Rementer and attempted to stop Thadius and stated, ‘Please stop, please stop, you are killing my mom,’” police wrote. “Thadius McGrath stated that he did not stop strangling Samantha and knew Samantha was dead because she was ‘purple.’”

The older child allegedly bit McGrath in an attempt to save her mother, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

Rementer’s father, William Rementer, said he was “very very proud” of his grandchildren. He created a GoFundMe page, stating police called the older child a “rock star” for her conduct on the scene and in later interviews.

McGrath was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person and possession of an instrument of crime. In a statement to Oxygen.com, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office stated that, as of Wednesday, McGrath was still being treated for his gunshot wound at the hospital.

“This man murdered Ms. Rementer in from of her children, then unsuccessfully tried to take his own life,” said District Attorney Matt Weintraub. “I cannot think of two more cowardly acts. He will now be made to pay an exacting price for his crimes.”

Once medically cleared, McGrath will be remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Magisterial District Judge Leonard Brown denied his bail.

McGrath, who is from Chatham, Massachusetts, was already facing criminal charges in his home state when Rementer was murdered, according to the Courier Times. He was arrested in May 2021 on charges of possession of child pornography, though the case is still pending.

McGrath was not the father of Rementer's two children, according to the Courier Times. Family members said the children’s father — Rementer’s long-time partner — died in February 2021 after suffering a heart attack.

According to William Rementer, the children are in his care.