Double homicide in Geneva under investigation
Geneva police today are continuing to investigate a double homicide that occurred in an upstairs apartment on 148 Main Street in Geneva around midnight Thursday. Helen Buchel, 34, and her daughter, Brittany Passalacqua, 12, a seventh-grader at Geneva Middle School on Carter Road, were killed from knife wounds.
Police have arrested John Edward Brown, 35, of 285 Route 21, Lot 42, Palmyra, in connection with the deaths. Brown is being charged with first-degree murder.
Geneva Chief Frank Pane this morning said an initial report is that this was a domestic violence incident between Buchel and Brown, who had been dating. “They were seeing each other but I don’t believe they were married,” said Pane. “We haven’t established the exact motive as of yet. I don’t believe we have any prior domestic violence reports from that address on Main Street.”
Police were called at 3:30 p.m. Friday after someone entered the apartment and saw the two bodies. Pane would not say if the person who found the bodies was Buchel’s son, who lived part time with her and his father. The parents were divorced and the son, whose name is not being released, was not present during the murders.
The police tracked down Brown around 7 p.m. Friday after an all points bulletin was sent out for a 1997 dark green Chevy Lumina 4-door with plates ENH2616. The car, which had no one in it when police found it, was towed back to the police station and has been impounded. Brown was apprehended separate from the vehicle, said Pane.
Brown is also being charged with a parole violation. He was on parole due to a 2003 conviction for second-degree assault in an unrelated incident involving an infant, according to Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo. Brown was sentenced to 3 years in prison for that offense.
Brown is due back at Geneva City Court at 9 a.m. Monday on the murder charges. Autopsies on the victims will be conducted Saturday at the Monroe County coroner’s office.
