Man Reportedly Kills Wife And Then Himself, Three Days After Couple Threw Birthday Party For Daughter

A Pennsylvania man reportedly killed his wife before turning the gun on himself, just three days after they both celebrated their daughter’s fifth birthday.

Northampton County officials speaking to the Morning Call revealed that Matthew Eberhardt, 45, allegedly gunned down his 42-year-old wife, Kristin, on the doorstep of the home they had lived in for over eight years, before killing himself.

Borough police were responding to a domestic dispute report with shots fired and found the Eberhardts dead when they arrived. The county coroner, Zachary Lysek, revealed that Kristin, a mother-of-two was shot multiple times, while her husband died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, Christmas decorations still dangled in front of the Eberhardts’ residence with two inflatable reindeers in the middle of the lawn. A pair of present-shaped holiday lights toppled over close to the driveway.

Neighbors, shocked at the apparent murder-suicide, described the Eberhardts as a happy and friendly family that had invited them over for their daughter’s birthday party over the weekend.

A neighbor speaking to Lehigh Valley Live said Kristin worked as a senior regulatory analyst for Porzio Life Sciences, while her husband operated an excavator for a construction company.

The neighbor, who preferred to remain anonymous, described Matthew as “super-nice and a down-to-earth-guy” and Kristin as “very nice.” He added that everyone was heartbroken over the tragedy and particularly for the 5-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy that had been left behind.

Another neighbor, Jonelle Finney, who lives three houses down from the Eberhardts, said she was putting her kids to bed when she thought she saw a bluish flash. Finney said she saw another neighbor rushing his family into his parked truck and asked him what was going on.

The neighbor told Finney that there had been a shooting. A few minutes later the quiet neighborhood was swamped with police cars and that was when Finney learned that her sociable neighbors were dead.

Court documents made available to the Daily Mail indicate that the Eberhardts were not going through any financial challenges and had recently bought a car together.

The last public photo of the Eberhardt family showed them standing in front of Christmas tree on December 21.

Police are still trying to unravel the motive behind the deaths of the couple.

The deaths of the Eberhardts marked the second murder-suicide in Northampton County in less than two weeks. On December 22, Justin Kephart killed his 62-year-old mother before going on to take his life after a lengthy standoff with police.