An aspiring nurse in Massachusetts was k*illed in a murd*er-suic*ide by her deranged boyfriend she had only been dating for around two months.
Loren Marino, 24, was found dead with gunshot wounds inside her Haverhill, Mass. apartment on Sunday.
A downstairs neighbor discovered the bodies of Marino and her new boyfriend Austin Amaral, 24, around 5:45 p.m. Marino’s two dogs were found inside near where the bodies were discovered.
Investigators believe Amaral shot and killed the young woman before turning the gun on himself, a spokesperson for The Essex County District Attorney’s Office told the outlet.
Marino’s best friend Katie Iandolo told the outlet that Amaral became “obsessed” with Marino after the couple started dating for about two months.
“There was a lot of obsession with him. He kind of came and never left,” she shared. “He didn’t want anybody but him to have a relationship with her.”
Iandolo, who said Marino knew Amaral before they started dating, started to notice warning signs of how dangerous the “psychotic” boyfriend was about several weeks before he tragically murd*ered her friend.
Amaral had flaunted two guns to her inside Marino’s apartment about a month before the mu*rder-suici*de.
Raising concern to her friend, Iandolo said Marino assured her things were fine and not to worry.
Then, the friend witnessed Amaral become physically violent toward her best friend just weeks before things turned deadly.
“He shoved her into a dresser hard. I kind of freaked out on him,” Iandolo claimed. “He was so psychotic in his eyes when he was yelling at me.”
Iandolo shared that she grew more distant from Marino when she called out Armala’s abusive behavior, claiming he forced her best friend to unfriend her on social media.
“While she was sleeping, he took her phone and blocked me from it,” Iandolo said of the controlling boyfriend. “He removed me from her Facebook, her Snapchat and her Instagram.”
The heartbroken friend was returning from Las Vegas when she heard Marino was ki*lled.
“We had an instant connection. The day we met, we used to call each other soul sisters,” added Iandolo. “I loathe him. He took my best friend from me.”
Marino was working as a mental healthcare professional at Anodyne Medical Services and was “dedicated to her work” before her rageful boyfriend robbed the 24-year-old of her bright future, according to an obituary written by her family.
“Loren was a beautiful strong young lady, her amazing beautiful spirit always lit up the room. She was the life of the party, and loved to dance, sing and cook,” her family shared.
After her best friend’s abusive boyfriend turned deadly, Iandolo is warning others to be more vigilant in their relationships and others around them.
“First red flag, please just go,” she said. “It’s only going to get worse. There’s no fixing somebody. There’s no light at the end of that kind of tunnel.”
The East Providence, Rhode Island native leaves behind her parents, Andrew and Christine, her stepfather, Gary, and four siblings.
Marino’s friends are organizing foster homes for Marino’s two dogs.
