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Deputies investigating Accomack County double homicide as murder-suicide

Posted at 4:32 PM, May 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-06 16:34:29-04

ACCOMACK Co., Va. - An Eastern Shore family is working to come to grips with the unthinkable - a couple found early Monday morning lying dead in their home in the 19000 block of Lankford Highway in Parksley.

"It's real shocking; they were special people," said David Garamajo.

Deputies found his father-in-law, 48-year-old Juan Benjamin Lopez Mazariegos, and Lopez's wife, 52-year-old Irma Orfilia Castillinos Laparra, on their living room floor suffering from apparent stab wounds.

On May 7, the two bodies were sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk, where they performed an autopsy.

It was determined that Laparra died from apparent stab wounds and Mazariegos died from self-inflicted stab wounds. Officials say this incident appears to be a murder-suicide. A final disposition is pending the Medical Examiner's report and the results of additional lab examinations.

Photo: News 3 reporter Chelsea Donovan

"They seemed all the time very happy. Happy family; we have a good relationship. You know, I don’t know what to say," said Garamajo.

Lopez and Castillinos were both pronounced dead at the scene. Garamajo said when he arrived the driveway was littered with police cars, and when he went inside, the scene left little clues and no signs of broken windows or forced entry.

"Nobody can say what happened; it was two in the morning," he stated.

Garamajo said the couple came to the Eastern Shore from Guatemala for work and a better chance at life. Those hopes and dreams were cut fatefully short.

"We are broken," he said.

The Accomack County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Virginia State Police. An investigation into this incident is ongoing.

Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to contact the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office at (757) 787-1131 or (757) 824-5666.