The late matriarch of a massacred Long Island family put in her will that her kids had to sell and move from her home — likely triggering her disturbed son’s deadly rampage.
Theresa DeLucia’s will — made public this week in Nassau County court — reveals more details in a tragic family dispute that ended with her son, Joseph DeLucia, slaughtering his three siblings and a niece before turning a gun on himself.
The will, signed in 2007, stipulated that the four DeLucia children not only split their mother’s estate equally, but also quickly sell the Syosset home that Joseph DeLucia had lived in his entire life.
“I direct any member of my family who may be living in such home at the time of my death to vacate same to facilitate such sale and empower my Executor to take any and all steps reasonably required to effectuate this provision of my Will,” the document states.
Theresa DeLucia’s newly released will stipulated her family sell her Syosset home.
The 2007 will made clear that family members such as Joseph DeLucia would have to move from the Syosset home. RHACSI
Joseph DeLucia lived in the home his entire life. Google MapsThe family’s move to boot Joseph DeLucia from the house where he grew up sent the homebody former EMT and mechanic into a panic, cops said.
DeLucia flew into a rage during an Aug. 25 family meeting in the Wyoming Court home about their recently deceased 95-year-old mother’s estate, cops said.
He picked up a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun and viciously gunned down his siblings Joanne Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida, Tina Hammond, 64, of East Patchogue, and Frank DeLucia, 63, of Durham, North Carolina, in the home’s den, as well as his niece Victoria Hammond, 30, of East Patchogue, police said.
DeLucia killed four of his family members in a bloody Aug. 25 massacre inside the home, cops said. Dennis A. ClarkWith a bloodcurdling wail, DeLucia then fatally shot himself in the yard, neighbors said.
Shortly after the family massacre, Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said DeLucia had mental health issues.
DeLucia suffered mental health problems, authorities said. Facebook/Joe DeLucia“The perception of Joseph Jr. was that he was being cut out of the will and was going to be displaced without a place to go,” he said.
The will, dated 2007, named Frank DeLucia as executor and stipulated that Joseph DeLucia would get a quarter of their mother’s assets — no more and no less than any sibling.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan
