Lisa Menzo Santoro died of multiple gunshot wounds inside her garage in the township. She was 47. Watch video
UPDATE: 'Shocking for any neighborhood' -- Reactions to Palmer homicide
A mother of four was found shot to death Friday afternoon inside the garage of her Palmer Township home, and the person of interest in the killing was found dead in a vehicle in Warren County, authorities said.
Lisa Menzo Santoro (Courtesy Facebook | For lehighvalleylive.com) Lisa Menzo Santoro, 47, was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds inside a vehicle parked in the garage of her home at 19 Saddle Lane, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said Friday night. He ruled the death a homicide.
Township police had responded there about 3:40 p.m. after a family member discovered Menzo Santoro's body.
Three of her four children lived in the home, Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck said.
Police at the scene said they had a person of interest they were looking for, and Houck confirmed he was found dead in Greenwich Township.
Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke identified the man as Leonard Moser, 45.
Moser took his own life with a shotgun blast to the head after police had pulled over his vehicle on Dumont Road in Greenwich Township, just off Route 519, Burke said.
Police stopped his vehicle around 6 p.m. and from a distance ordered Moser out of the car, Burke said.
Leonard Moser (Facebook photo) "He didn't get out of the car," he said. "Because there was some concern about whether he had any kind of weapons, my understanding is they backed off and we activated the tactical team to come and approach the vehicle. When they did that, that's when they determined he was deceased."
Houck said that while the investigation is ongoing, authorities believe Moser to be "the strongest suspect at this point."
"We don't believe at this point in time that there's anybody out there that we need to worry about," Houck said.
No one else was injured during the sequence of incidents, authorities said.
Houck said investigators believe Moser was en route to see relatives in New Jersey when he was stopped by police. Moser is not believed to be the father of Menzo Santoro's children, according to Houck.
Palmer Township police at the murder scene said the crime appeared to be domestic violence-related, and that officers had been to the home several times in the past. Neighbors reported a recent uptick in police activity there prior to Friday.
In addition to investigators reviewing the New Jersey scene, the Palmer Township incident remained under investigation by township police, the district attorney's office and the coroner's office.
Friday's murder marks Palmer Township's third gunfire homicide since the unsolved murder of 25-year-old Michael Davis last Nov. 21 outside his Eldridge Avenue home. He had been working at the Verizon store in Forks Township that was robbed the prior month, at the outset of a spree of cellphone store robberies that only Friday began to yield arrests.
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The night of Feb. 23, Dekota Jerome Baptiste, 24, of Easton, allegedly pursued 36-year-old Terrance "Lex" Ferguson into the parking lot of Auto Zone off 25th Street and shot him to death, in what was described as an altercation over a woman.
In addition, police continue to investigate a pedestrian crash the night of Feb. 8 near the Palmer Park Mall that left 18-year-old Zakaiyah Halley, of Phillipsburg, dead. No one has been charged in that incident.
Jim Deegan contributed to this report.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.