BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: The septuagenarian couple Jill and Bruno D'Amore, who were 73 and 74 years old, were discovered dead on Sunday at their residence in Massachusetts. Besides the couple, Jill's mother, 97, was also found dead in the home.
Described as "fantastic Italian people who wouldn't hurt a soul," the couple had celebrated their 50th anniversary on Saturday night. They were going to renew their vows at Our Lady Help of Christians Church on Sunday, June 25.
'They were fantastic Italian people who wouldn't hurt a soul'
The couple, along with Jill's mother Lucia Arpino, is claimed to have attended the mass for more than 60 years. Notably, they were found dead shortly after the 10.15 am mass. The trio is said to have died from the stab wounds and trauma and the house seemed to have broken into, as per Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. "They were fantastic Italian people who wouldn't hurt a soul, and they would just do anything for anybody," Jim Sbordone, a retired Newton Fire Department lieutenant who was also close friends with the D'Amores, told The Boston Globe.
Who are Jill and Bruno D'Amore?
Apparently, a neighbor discovered the trio dead at the home around 10.14 am and made a 911 call from the Italian-American neighborhood of Nonantum. Sbordone further described them as "great people" and emphasized that "This isn't the type of thing that happens in the neighborhood," before adding, "I hope it never happens again to anybody." Another neighbor who talked to the Boston Herald anonymously called them a "very, very nice couple" and further added, "Why them? Why a nice couple like them? Why this neighborhood? Nothing like this happens in this neighborhood,"
“Two of the individuals were celebrating a golden wedding anniversary this weekend. As you can imagine, this would be tragic on any day. To have family gathered for this kind of a celebration makes it particularly tragic,” said Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
Paul and Ginny Arpino, the D'Amores' cousins, mentioned in a memorial that Lucia had attended every mass for more than 60 years before Covid. They noted that she and her husband Alberto sat in the church's "North End" area. Alberto left her a widow when he died in 2014 at 87, according to an obituary written and published in the Boston Globe.
The couple frequently visited the church, and Jill is described on their website as someone who helped to decorate it "in keeping with the liturgical seasons". "Jill had taken on the ministry of beautifying our church's environment. Without a single day of liturgical training, she simply followed her heart, caring for the flowers and decorating for the liturgical seasons. She spent endless hours in the care of our church,' wrote the couple's cousins, Paul and Ginny, in a tribute," the statement added.
