FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — A New Jersey State Police sergeant followed his ex-girlfriend home from work, hid in the woods near her home, and fatally shot her and her new boyfriend before killing himself, authorities said.
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson identified the trooper as Ricardo Jorge Santos, 37, a sergeant first class. He is believed to have murdered 33-year-old Lauren Semanchik and 29-year-old Tyler Webb on Friday, Aug. 1, in what Robeson called a domestic violence-driven double murder-suicide.
Semanchik, a veterinarian in Long Valley, had broken off her relationship with Santos in September 2024 and had accused him of ongoing harassment and controlling behavior, the prosecutor said.
Surveillance footage shows Santos’ white 2008 Mercedes SUV trailing Semanchik’s car from her workplace to her home on Upper Kingtown Road in the Pittstown section of Franklin Township. She arrived home at 5:57 p.m. and was followed minutes later by an individual walking through the woods nearby, according to the prosecutor. Webb arrived at 6:45 p.m.
At 7:08 p.m., authorities received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming, but police could not locate the source. The next day, police responded to a report of an unconscious woman and found both Semanchik and Webb dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
Santos was later discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his SUV in Johnson Park. A semiautomatic handgun was recovered at the scene.
“This senseless and devastating loss has deeply affected our entire community,” Robeson said. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of Dr. Lauren Semanchik and Tyler Webb.”
The investigation is ongoing. Authorities said there is no threat to the public. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office at 908-788-1129.
