By RACHEL QUIGLEY
A couple who were due in court on Friday to finalize their divorce were found dead in an apparent murder suicide the day before, police said today. Jennifer Boyce, 31, was found at her Madison apartment on Thursday morning by police after neighbors reported a glass door broken. She suffered 'multiple injuries' but the cause of her Wednesday death is not yet known. When police went to her husband Bernard Grosso's home later that day, they found him dead of a self-inflicted gun shot wound.
A loaded assault rifle and another firearm were recovered from the home. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday night that Boyce’s death was the result of injuries from an edged weapon. Additional testing is under way. They were both due in court on Friday to finalize the divorce. They separated last March after almost four years marriage, according to STLToday. Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said: 'Certainly, we can speculate that this pending divorce hearing may have played a part in the motive. But we’ll never know that for sure.'
The couple had no record of domestic violence. Jennifer's stepmother confirmed there was no physical violence in the relationship but said Grosso had 'hurt Jennifer very badly psychologically' before she left him but that she always assured her family that he would never hurt her. Relatives say Boyce was an epidemiologist who worked for the state Division of Public Health. Dixie Boyce said she and her husband were in disbelief when they received news of Jennifer’s death. She told WISCTV: '(I am in) shock. We can't really believe it; I mean, these things happen on TV, they don't happen to us.
'We're middle class, normal Americans, and she was a nice girl. She was loyal, funny and she was smart.' Jennifer Boyce’s father, Don Boyce, said he knew about Grosso’s purchase of an assault rifle two weeks ago, but neither he nor Jennifer were concerned with the purchase. He said he did not know if the weapon was used on his daughter, and added that he was waiting on the release of Jennifer’s completed autopsy.
'All of the (divorce) details were settled and they were to go court on Friday,' Dixie Boyce said. 'It seems he broke into her apartment early Wednesday and killed her. 'We just heard that he went to work afterward and was there part of the day, then shot himself.' A neighbor of the couple said: 'We'd heard a couple of heated arguments at night a few times. Usually you could hear Jennifer yell at him and it was only a matter of two or three times and then they were separated.'
Boyce said the family planned to bring her stepdaughter’s body back to St Louis this week. Funeral arrangements are pending. The department of public health released a statement about Jennifer's death: 'This is a tragic loss of a wonderfully talented and kind individual. 'Jennifer was loved dearly by everyone she worked with, and our thoughts and prayers go with her and her family.
'Though she will be greatly missed, she left us with the best possible memories, which we will continue to cherish.' Boyce was an avid participant in endurance sports and competed in her first Ironman Wisconsin in 2011 because it fell on her 30th birthday, on September 11 of that year.
