Charleroi man kills ex-wife, then self in murder-suicide
Alexis Wadsworth and her husband, Dan, await word Wednesday from state police in Belle Vernon about the murder of her mother, Jeanne Bennati, Tuesday night in Allenport.
Phyllis Lazzari of Allenport said she went to assist her neighbor, Jeanne Bennati, after Bennati was shot and killed by her ex-husband Tuesday outside the victim’s home, shown in the background.
Jeanne Bennati
This house at 157 Pine Street was the location of a fatal shooting Tuesday. Jeanne Bennati, 51, Allenport, lived at this property where she was shot and killed.
ALLENPORT – Jeanne Bennati was tormented by her ex-husband to the point where she changed the locks three times on the doors to her Allenport home in attempts to keep him at bay, a friend said.
The 51-year-old woman’s rocky relationship with Ryan Lee Foster ended Tuesday night when he shot her in the head outside of her home at 157 Pine St., and later turned the gun on himself, state police said.
“He wouldn’t move on. He wouldn’t let her move on,” said Phyllis Lazzari, who lives across the street from the murder scene.
“Domestic violence. It’s just senseless,” Lazzari said Wednesday. “He just kept coming up to bother her.”
Police said Foster shot Bennati once in the head about 9:15 p.m. at Pine and Locust streets, and he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a car four miles from the crime scene Wednesday morning in Dunlevy.
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said Foster’s body was found about 5:30 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the head in the vehicle parked off Frick Street. He ruled the death a suicide. Warco pronounced Benatti dead at 10:12 p.m. Tuesday, and he ruled her death a homicide.
Benatti’s friend, who declined to be identified, said Foster, 42, of Charleroi, was unemployed and receiving disability benefits.
This was not the first time Foster turned violent against Bennati or her family. Roscoe-Elco-Stockdale-Allenport Regional police accused Foster of pulling out a knife and threatening to kill Bennati’s daughter, Alexis, and a man she was with outside the Spee-D market in Stockdale Oct. 29, 2011, according to court records. He was charged with two counts each of simple assault and terroristic threats, but pleaded guilty to one count of simple assault the following October and was sentenced to 12 months of probation, court records indicate.
Benatti’s friend said Benatti worked as a bartender and for the Meals on Wheels program.
“I feel bad for her daughter,” said Darlene Uhutch, who also lives near the murder scene. “That’s all she had. He was so weird.”
Benatti’s daughter, Alexis Wadsworth, could be seen hugging her husband, Dan, while they waited for more information on the case Wednesday morning at the state police barracks in Belle Vernon.
She said her mother was gunned down “in her driveway for no reason, no reason at all.”
“They just signed their divorce papers,” Wadsworth said.
The couple wed in November 2009, and Foster filed for divorce in May.
Benatti’s friend said Foster on Tuesday made threats to kill his ex-wife and her ex-boyfriend.
“He stalked her. It’s a terrible tragedy,” she said.
Lazzari said she was inside her home on Locust Street when she heard a loud bang, thinking it was someone playing with fireworks.
She said her oldest nephew went outside and said, ‘It’s Jeanne. She needs help.'”
Lazzari said by then her neighbor no longer appeared to be breathing.
“She was a nice person,” Lazzari said.