Scripps heiress’ suicide mirrors that of her murderous stepfather

Anne Morell Petrillo jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York on Sept. 24 almost 16 years after her stepfather committed suicide leaping from the same bridge. A medical examiner is expected to confirm ID today of remains found in the water.

The New York Post reports that remains found floating north of Tappan Zee Bridge in New York are likely those of Anne Morell Petrillo. Petrillo, 38, jumped off the bridge on Thursday and her body was later found by Tarrytown firefighters. The Rockland County medical examiner performed an autopsy and confirmation of identity is expected today. Petrillo is the daughter of newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas. On New Year’s Eve in 1993, when Petrillo was 22, her stepfather Scott Douglas beat her mother to death with a claw hammer. After killing his wife, Douglas drove his BMW to the Tappan Zee Bridge and jumped. “His body washed up in the Bronx three months later,” according to the New York Daily News. Petrillo, a college student at the time, discovered her mother’s bloodied body. According to the New York Post, Scripps Douglas was “the great-great-granddaughter of Detroit News founder James E. Scripps,” and she died six days after the bludgeoning at age 47. The 1997 movie, “Our Mother’s Murder,” chronicles the domestic violence that eventually led to the murder of Scripps Douglas. In another sad and ironic twist, that Lifetime movie was aired on television last week. At the time of Scripps Douglas’ murder, she and Douglas had a three-year-old daughter named Victoria. Annie Morell Petrillo is survived by her son, Michael, who is thirteen.