Cops: Man kills ex-girlfriend, self

An East Northport man stabbed his former girlfriend to death in her St. James house early Monday and then took their 13-month-old son to his home in East Northport, where he shot himself to death, Suffolk police said.

James Schultz, 31, of Loret Lane, killed himself with a shotgun in the home he shared with his parents just before 9 a.m., said Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commander of the homicide squad.

Neither Schultz's parents, who were home at the time, nor his son, were injured.

Fitzpatrick said officers found the body of Katherine Farrell, 23, at her residence on Hill Road in St. James about 11:20 a.m. Police believe she was killed by Schultz earlier in the day.

They went to her home after learning she and Schultz had a child together and after they could not reach Farrell at St. James Nursing Home, where she worked, police said.

"When we find her, she was stabbed to death," Fitzpatrick said. "It appears that he killed Ms. Farrell the morning when he went to pick up the child."

Schultz's parents were home when he arrived at their house with the child, who has been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

"Just before 9, he goes into another part of the house and with a shotgun, shoots himself, kills himself," Fitzpatrick said.

A man who was sitting on the porch on Loret Lane Monday night and identified himself as Schultz's father declined to comment. "I'm the father," he said. "We have nothing to say and no one on this street has anything to say either."

Farrell's relatives could not be reached for comment.

Schultz was arrested in April 2009 and charged with criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded guilty in 2010, Suffolk court records show.

Fitzpatrick said there was no history of violence reported between Farrell and Schultz, no restraining orders or calls to police for domestic disturbances.

"There were no 911 calls or orders of protection," he said. "No one in the family anticipated any violence."

Fitzpatrick said that Schultz, who lived about 14 miles away from Farrell's St. James home, picked up his son from his ex-girlfriend's home about three times a week to care for the boy while she went to work. Schultz was unemployed, he said.

Fitzpatrick said the case is under investigation.

With Bill Mason