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Updated: September 22, 2010, 6:51 PM
Homicide investigators late this afternoon were at the scene of what was described as a murder-suicide at 54 Tuxedo Place in the city's Riverside neighborhood.
Police described the victims as a woman in her late 40s and man in his early 50s -- boyfriend and girlfriend. The violence, police said, erupted during a domestic dispute.
Further information was unavailable.
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This was written by By T.J. Pignataro for the Buffalo News.A Tuxedo Place woman about to escape an abusive relationship was killed Wednesday by her estranged boyfriend, who then took his own life inside the apartment they shared, police said.
Loud quarrels between Joy Rizzo, 49, and Andrew Soos, 51, were said to have been frequent in their lower flat. Often -- and as recently as three days ago -- they ventured outside, in full view of neighbors, according to Trina Pena, Rizzo's friend.
"She was trying to leave him," Pena said. "She was scared. She feared for her life, and [Soos] took her life."
Neighbors said Rizzo was packing her belongings into boxes and planned to move to Florida with another man she had known since childhood and had befriended again on Facebook.
That was the reason for the loud quarrel that neighbors heard earlier this week.
"[Soos] was standing on his porch saying, 'Over my dead body,'" Pena said.
The other man, who neighbors called "Steve," was supposed to have been picked up by Rizzo earlier Wednesday. When Rizzo did not show up, he called her unsuccessfully before showing up on Tuxedo Place, which is north of Hertel Avenue, a few blocks east of Military Road.
When there was no answer at the apartment, police were summoned.
Northwest District officers responded after 2 p.m. to make "a welfare check" on the two, and the landlord arrived with a key to let them in.
"Police arrived on scene, gained access to the home, and, once inside, they found the bodies," said Michael J. DeGeorge, Buffalo police spokesman. "Right now, it appears to be an apparent murder-suicide that appears to be domestic in nature."
Police would not say what type of weapon was involved. However, neighbors described hearing two gunshots at about 1:45 p.m.
Authorities released few details of the crime, saying only that it remained "under investigation" by homicide detectives. Police did not release the names of the victims.
Nancy Young, a neighbor, said she had been friends with Rizzo since childhood. The two attended Hoover Elementary School and Kenmore West High School together and had remained friends ever since. Soos, Young said, was the first man Rizzo let abuse her.
"I was surprised she stayed with a violent man," Young said. "She never put up with it before. She tried to leave him several times. He had some kind of fear of God in her."
Young described Soos as a controlling man who once cut the brake lines to her vehicle to keep her and Rizzo from attending a concert together at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. She said Rizzo liked the outdoors, including hiking in Zoar Valley, camping, volleyball and football.
The couple leaves behind a 12-year-old son who was met at school Wednesday by police. The child is now in the care of relatives. Neighbors said the boy would often be seen walking down the street and stopping to visit during quarrels between his parents.
Neighbors said Rizzo's older son from a previous relationship, Nick Rizzo, now 22, spent time in jail after coming to the defense of his mother by hitting Soos in the head with a baseball bat. The Nov. 22, 2004, police report states that the incident occurred at Chadduck and Ontario streets. Soos was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center.
Nick Rizzo is now serving up to seven years in the Attica Correctional Facility for robbery, burglary and grand larceny, according to state Department of Correctional Services records.
Soos' wife of two years, the former Valerie Wilkins, 43, was found slain behind a Niagara Street bar in November 1996. Her ring finger was cut off after her death, but before authorities found her nude body in her car behind Campbell's Pub, 1591 Niagara St.
"Cold Case Squad detectives were recently looking into that cold case," Dennis J. Richards, chief of detectives, said late Wednesday, "and furthermore were conferring with homicide detectives who were at the scene of today's find."
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