A Long Island man upset about his lawyer wife’s new social life after she lost weight fatally shot her in their bedroom yesterday — then turned the gun on himself, family members said.
Police identified the Elmont couple as Karen Rodgers Dennis, 46 – a mother of three grown children — and her husband, Audley Dennis, 58, who worked in shipping.
“Basically, she was really enjoying her life at the time and it didn’t sit too pretty with him,” said Karen’s brother, Ken Rodgers. “She was going out with the girls and friends.”
Neighbors said the pair was often heard arguing — and suspected the reason was Karen’s stunning new figure.
“Maybe there was jealousy. She looked great. She was going out a lot,” said neighbor Simone Dolabaille, 35.
She did not have words as kind for Audley, whom she called “generally unpleasant.”
“He would kick stuff into my driveway. He would never say good morning or goodnight,” Dolabaille said.
Ken Rogers said his sister wasn’t cheating on her husband.
“It was mostly girls nights out,” he said. “Maybe he saw his world just breaking up in front of him and he couldn’t take it.”
Nassau County Det. Sgt. James Skopek said Karen was found shot several times in the upper torso in her bedroom. Audley was found dead of a shotgun blast to the chest.
“They had their altercations. They would argue and yell, have outbursts. They would just be cursing. They argued about money. It would turn into something stupid about stuff for the house, groceries,” said 19-yr-old Dejon Nemorin, who is pals with Aidan – one of the couple’s sons.
They have three children: Aidan, 16, Aaron, 19 and Maya, 21. The 19-year-old son attends Villanova on a soccer scholarship an the 21-year-old goes to Williams College.
Police said they had been called to the home for domestic violence issues over the years, but said the most recent call was five years ago.
“We don’t know what provoked it,” Skopek said of the shooting.
On her Facebook page, Karen, an attorney, can be seen flaunting her new figure and received several encouraging compliments about her recent weight loss.
“You go girl!!” posted Sonya Rogers-Blyden.
“You look great. Keep up the good work. I am working myself also. I lost 49 lbs in in months, dropped 4 dress size, working on 5. God Bless, elaine,” wrote Elaine A Johnson.