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Woman Waited For Husband's Lover To Come Home, Shot Her, Then Committed Suicide
Jennair Gerardot allegedly killed Meredith Chapman, an assistant vice president at Villanova University, with a single gunshot.
Jennair Gerardot knew her husband was having an affair, and in a series of texts, she told him explicitly what she was going to do about it - she was going to murder his lover.
She allegedly did just that, breaking into the other woman's house and waiting, around 7 p.m. on Monday, Delaware Online reported.
Gerardot, 47, a former marketing manager, waited at Meredith Chapman's with a gun, and when Chapman got home, she immediately shot her. Then, she shot herself, Radnor Township Police in Pennsylvania said.
Mark Gerardot was going to meet Chapman, 33, an assistant vice president at Villanova University, for dinner that night and got worried when she didn't show up. That's when he went to her house, police said. When cops arrived he was outside the house and said, "My wife may be inside."
Bill Colarulo, superintendent of Radnor Township Police, told Delaware Online that the murder was not a random, heat of the moment incident.
"It's not a love triangle. You had a man who was married that was having an affair with this other woman," Colarulo told Delaware Online. "The wife knew about it. And this was a calculated, planned attack. She broke into the house. She was lying in wait, and she shot her as soon as she walked in, and then she shot herself.
Jennair Gerardot's actions were a well "thought-out plan" that involved a disguise and public transport, officials told Delaware Online. While searching the house, police found a wig and other clothes in a bag that didn't appear to belong to Chapman.
Jennair and Mark Gerardot were having marital problems for a while, according to reporting by The Philadelphia Inquirer. She even sought help and advice from NextDoor - a private social neighborhood app - in February.
“I just transferred to Delaware in December for my Husband’s new job, and he’s telling me he wants a divorce,” Gerardot wrote, according to the Inquirer. “I don’t know anyone and am completely clueless to the area.”
In March, the messages became more desperate.
“Please recommend an EXCELLENT marriage counselor for couple on brink of divorce,” she wrote.
The post said she was open to all kinds of therapies.
“We will need someone who is very educated and experienced dealing with couples issues including infidelity, depression, traumatic experiences, child/parent dynamics, being accountable for actions, etc.,” Gerardot wrote at the time.
Chapman had recently moved into her house, just blocks from Villanova, where she lived alone. She previously worked as the University of Delaware director for digital communications. Police said she just recently separated from her husband, Luke Chapman, a former Newark city councilman. Friends remembered Meredith Chapman as vibrant and full of life.
"She could dazzle a room and had the skills and the guts to back it up," Katy O'Connell, director of college communications at UD told Delaware Online. "She was an amazing person."
[Photo: Meredith Chapman; Instagram, Jennair Gerardot; Facebook]
