Police: Berlin officer involved in murder-suicide tried to rekindle relationship with ex

BARRE TOWN, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont State Police investigators are providing more information about an apparent murder-suicide in Barre Town Monday night, but questions remain about what led up to the on-duty police officer with a clean record shooting his ex-girlfriend and killing himself.

Vermont State Police say Jeffery Strock, 58, was a part-time officer with the Washington County Sheriff’s office and Berlin Police Department for the last 20 years. They say he signed on for duty just before 11 a.m. Monday for the Berlin Police. They believe it was a routine day including four motor vehicle stops.

Just before 2 p.m., they say Strock arrived at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Julie Fandino, 58, on Carpenter Lane. Police say the two dated for about five years and Strock was trying to rekindle the relationship after they separated and he remarried. It’s unclear what happened next but police say Strock fired his pistol multiple times, killing Fandino, and then shot himself.

Fandino’s 23-year-old daughter was home and sleeping at the time. The two bodies were found outside just a few minutes later by the property manager, who noticed the cruiser and stopped by.

Investigators say Strock had nothing noteworthy on his police record. When it comes to mental health, we are told that co-workers did not notice anything odd. But police say family and friends say they did notice signs that something was off.

“There are some hints of depression and self-harm certainly came about, but those people who had that information didn’t necessarily -- I don’t know what they did with it. Maybe it could have been helped if some of the information was passed along,” said Vermont State Police Major Dan Trudeau. “I would roughly say that as far as domestic violence homicides go in Vermont they are typically about 50 percent of cases.”

Berlin Police officials would not comment on the case Tuesday. Fandino’s sister said that she was from a big family and added that her sister was home sick Monday and that’s why she was home.

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