Nicholas Arruda Killed His Pregnant Wife and Two Young Children Before Taking His Own Life

 

Rhode Island Father Killed His Pregnant Wife and Two Young Children Before Taking His Own Life

On January 3, 2025, police in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, discovered an entire family dead inside their home.

The victims were Danielle L. Arruda, 39, and her children, Adele, 5, and Felix, 2.

Danielle was also seven months pregnant.

Police determined that Danielle’s husband, Nicholas D. Arruda, 39, shot and killed his wife and their two children before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The family was discovered after Danielle’s coworkers became concerned when she unexpectedly failed to report to work for two consecutive days. Officers responded to the family’s home on Cheyenne Trail after finding her vehicle in the driveway and receiving no response.

Inside, officers found the family members in their pajamas.

The front door had been locked and secured from inside with a chain latch, while the back door was obstructed by clutter. Police recovered an M4-style semiautomatic rifle near Nicholas’s body and determined that the firearms inside the home were legally possessed.

Investigators estimated that the killings occurred sometime between the evening of January 1 and early January 2.

Authorities said they found no suicide note, no clear motive, and no record of previous emergency calls to the home.

Because Nicholas died at the scene, there was no criminal trial. The determination that he killed his family before himself comes from the police investigation.

Danielle Arruda was 39 years old. Adele was five. Felix was two. And Danielle was seven months pregnant.

Whatever happened inside that house, four lives were taken before Nicholas Arruda took his own. Calling it a murder-suicide should never fucking obscure who was murdered.