Heiress’ suicide echoes her family’s earlier tragedy

A family tragedy came eerily full circle in the waters of the Hudson River on Sept. 24, when the daughter of a newspaper heiress leaped to her death after parking her BMW on a busy bridge north of New York City.

The suicide came 15 years after the woman’s stepfather killed her mother with a claw hammer, parked his own BMW on the same bridge at the same age -- 38 -- and ended his life in the same way.

The mother, Anne Scripps Douglas, and the daughter, Anne Morell Petrillo, were victims of the same crime, said Jeanine Pirro, who handled the case in 1994 as the Westchester County district attorney and who is now TV’s “Judge Jeanine Pirro.”

“When you commit a violent crime, people think it’s over once the person is prosecuted or dies or the newspapers are done with the story,” Pirro said. “The truth is, the effect of that crime lives on in the family and friends of the victim.”

Police found Petrillo’s body Sept. 27 in the river about 24 miles north of New York City. Her BMW had been found days earlier on the nearby Tappan Zee Bridge with a suicide note inside. The Rockland County medical examiner’s office confirmed that the body was Petrillo’s.

Peter Goodrich, a family friend and lawyer, said Petrillo’s two sisters were “mourning and terribly upset.”

“They love their sister,” he said.

Pirro’s career as district attorney began with the sensational case: Scott Douglas attacked his wife in their Bronxville home on New Year’s Eve 1993, and the crime came to light the next day -- Pirro’s first day on the job.

Anne Scripps Douglas was the great-great-granddaughter of James E. Scripps, who founded the Detroit News and built the Evening News Assn., which was sold to the Gannett Co. in 1985. His brother, E.W. Scripps, founded Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co., which owns newspapers, television stations and the Scripps Howard News Service.

“Little did I think that on my first day as district attorney I would be facing a case that would garner national attention because of the uniqueness -- or so it seemed at the time -- of domestic violence occurring in the upper economic strata of families,” Pirro said.

Douglas beat his 47-year-old wife into a coma, and she died six days later. The couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Victoria, was in the house and saw either the attack or its aftermath.

“She kept saying, ‘Daddy gave Mommy boo-boos,’ ” Pirro remembers.

Meanwhile, Scott Douglas’ BMW was found on the Tappan Zee, but his body could not be found in the icy waters. Investigators suspected a fake suicide and launched a manhunt.

The little girl’s two older half sisters feared their father’s return. When his body washed up in the Bronx three months later -- on March 30, 1994 -- Petrillo said, “We can get on with our lives.”

Because Anne Scripps Douglas had sought court protection from her husband several times and was turned away the last time because a judge was on vacation, the case produced changes in family court procedures.

“When the court realizes that a woman who came for help is murdered with a hammer within a week’s time, they have to look at themselves and say, ‘Why did we miss this one?’ ” Pirro said.

These days, if no family court judge is available when needed, the criminal court judge on 24-hour duty can sign an order of protection.

Petrillo and her sister, Alexandra, lost a custody case for Victoria and a lawsuit charging that the state had failed to protect their mother.

At the time of her death, Petrillo was divorced or separated from her husband, and their son reportedly lived with his father. Petrillo’s father died in 2005.

“According to family, she lived with a sadness all her life, and it culminated in the jump last week,” Pirro said.

For Pirro, memories of the case linger strongly.

“I remember going to the house in Bronxville,” Pirro said the day after Petrillo’s body was found. “I remember it was freezing; there was snow on the ground -- but it was sunny; it was quiet. A murder had occurred and yet the sun was coming through the windows.

“I couldn’t help but think of the horror, the screams, the blood. I remember thinking, ‘The devil has been at this house.’ ”