Man Follows Through on Threat to Kill Son, Self

A Wilmington man stabbed his 18-year-old son to death and then committed suicide less than one week after he had told a nurse in a psychiatric hospital where he had been admitted that he would do that very thing, police said.

During a four-day hospital stay that began Oct. 3, Fred Angellano, 57, told a nurse that he intended to kill his son and then commit suicide, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Sam Moreno. A psychiatric evaluation was recommended by doctors and family members were told of the threat but police said the family didn’t take the warning seriously. Angellano was released from the hospital despite his chronic depression and returned home Oct. 7.

Two days later--on Monday--Angellano used a large kitchen knife to kill Jonathan Angellano, Moreno said. Angellano then wrote a letter of apology to his wife before hanging himself in the garage.

Moreno said Jonathan’s older brother, Tony, returned to the home on the 1300 block of Ronan Avenue at 2 p.m. and found the teen-ager’s body. Police discovered Fred Angellano’s body in the garage while searching the residence.

Police would not give a motive for the homicide but said that Angellano had suffered from depression for nearly five years.