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'Nobody was going to help me': Body cam shows mother's heartbreak after Lone Tree murder-suicide

Posted at 6:16 PM, Oct 24, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-24 20:55:35-04

LONE TREE, Colo. – It was the worst moment of Jing Tesoriero's life. But it's a moment the Lone Tree woman wants the world to hear.

Tesoriero last month had received a suicide note in the middle of the night from her ex-husband, Anthony Tesoriero, who informed her that their 10-year-old son, Ty, would be "moments away from joining me in the afterlife."

Jing Tesoriero contacted Lone Tree police and rushed to her ex-husband's apartment. In the parking lot, a police officer approached Jing with the news: Her son, Ty, was dead, fatally shot by his father in a murder-suicide.

"No. No. No. No," Jing told the officers. "Do something."

"Unfortunately, ma'am, I can't," the officer said.

The interaction – captured on police body camera footage that was obtained by Denver7 this week – was a heartbreaking moment in a heartbreaking case.

Ty Tesoriero was killed just hours after his parents were in court for a custody hearing, where a judge had planned to award Jing Tesoriero full custody of Ty.

But Jing Tesoriero and her attorney, Caroline Cooley, have said that they tried for more than a year to alert authorities that Anthony Tesoriero was violating court orders over the child's custody and that he had displayed an "ongoing pattern of mental abuse." The state is investigating the case and a lawmaker has vowed to change state law to be sure what happened to Ty does not happen again.

On the night of Ty's death, Jing Tesoriero received her ex-husband's suicide note in an email.

She contacted police about 2:20 a.m. on Sept. 21, and officers responded to the Anthony Tesoriero's apartment. The body camera footage shows that officers waited more than 30 minutes to go inside the apartment, as they attempted to get ahold of Anthony Tesoriero's wife, Charlotte Maehl, who was asleep.

When Maehl woke up, she said she found a note on Ty's bedroom door: "Charlotte, do not go inside the room, just call the police and let them handle it."

Maehl met police outside, and officers went to search the bedroom, finding Ty and his father dead.

An officer then went back outside and told Jing Tesoriero, who was waiting in the parking lot with Cooley, what had happened.

"We've been saying this is going to happen," Cooley told the officer.

"And nobody would do anything," Jing Tesoriero said. "Nobody was going to help me."

"I've been calling you guys for a year about this guy," Cooley said.

Jing Tesoriero and Cooley followed officers to the police station for an interview, but Jing refused to go inside.

"I told you guys that he was going to kill Ty," Cooley told the officers at the police station.

When an officer asked Jing Tesoriero to come inside, she declined.

"I don't want to talk to you guys," Jing Tesoriero said. "I don't want to talk to you guys. You never did anything good for my son."

MORE COVERAGE

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Colorado mother tried for 15 months to protect murdered son from ex, but 'nobody wanted to investigate'

‘Maybe they were scared’: Worker on Lone Tree custody case says father bullied system to get his way

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Autopsy reports released for man, boy in Lone Tree murder-suicide