Two children had to witness a horrifying scene, as their mother was beaten to death right before their very own eyes.
A Bucks County, Pennsylvania man admitted to beating and strangling his girlfriend to death in front of her two young daughters.
He revealed that one of her daughters even pleaded, “Please stop. You are killing my mom.”
Thadius McGrath, 35, was charged with first- and third-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child on Tuesday over the slaying of his 31-year-old girlfriend, Samantha Rementer.
McGrath, who authorities say tried to kill himself in the aftermath, admitted to murdering Rementer in their home on June 8 after she made him mad.
He confessed to the cops, that he hit Rementer with a black step ladder and a lamp in her daughters’ bedroom. He then allegedly strangled his girlfriend with the lamp cord, the affidavit said.
McGrath said Rementer’s children, ages 5 and 2, watched as the brutal slaying unfolded.
“Please stop. Please stop. You are killing my mom,” Rementer’s elder daughter begged at the time. The little girl even attempted to bite her mom’s attacker, but he shoved her away.
Authorities came across the gruesome scene after McGrath’s mother alerted 911 after receiving a “possibly suicidal” call from him.
Rementer’s elder daughter opened the door covered in blood, the affidavit said. Her younger sister was found sitting in a high chair inside the home.
“(McGrath) killed mommy because she was annoying him and then (McGrath) shot himself accidentally,” the elder daughter told police.
Upon arrival police found McGrath in one of the bedrooms with a gunshot wound to his face. He was still hospitalized at Philadelphia’s Penn Presbyterian Medical Center as of Tuesday.
Rementer was found dead in the bedroom with blunt force trauma to her face and the lamp cord still wrapped around her neck.
“This man murdered Ms. Rementer in front of her children, then unsuccessfully tried to take his own life,” Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.
“I cannot think of two more cowardly acts. He will now be made to pay an exacting price for his crimes.”
The little girls, whose father died of a heart attack in February last year, were in the custody of their maternal grandfather, authorities said.