theblaze com

Mom asked her landlord to change the locks for fear of her estranged husband — they didn't, and days later she and her 2 kids were murdered, lawsuit alleges

Phil Shiver

3-4 minutes

A mother and two young children in Salem County, New Jersey, might still be alive today if only apartment operators had agreed to change their unit's locks as requested, according to the victims' family.

Relatives of Ruth Esther Reyes de Severino, 30, and her two children, Eurianny, 5, and Eury, 2, filed a lawsuit in court recently accusing operators at Penns Grove Apartments of failing to protect the young family from their estranged husband and father, NJ com reported.

Eugene Severino, 54, had allegedly threatened to kill his estranged wife on multiple occasions, prompting her to separate from him and obtain a restraining order on Jan. 16, 2020, ousting him from the apartment they shared.

After he was removed from the apartment, Reyes de Severino "begged" apartment operators to change the door locks out of fear that he would return since he still had a key to the unit. But according to the lawsuit, that simple request was denied.

Not long after, on Feb. 5, Severino returned to the apartment, using his keys to enter, and allegedly stabbed his wife and children to death before hanging himself in a nearby park.

"Ruth Reyes de Severino asked, nay, begged, Defendant Landlord Penns Grove Apartments LLC ... to change the locks on the door to her apartment such that her husband could not gain entry," the lawsuit states, according to NBC News.

It adds, "Despite Tenant's fear for her own safety and security, as well as the safety and security of her two small children ... Defendant Landlord denied Tenant's request to change the locks."

One of the family's lawyers, Samuel D. Jackson, said in the suit that Reyes de Severino had made at least five in-person requests for the locks to be changed to no avail.

The suit, filed last month in Salem County Superior Court, alleges wrongful death, negligence, breach of contract, and negligent hiring. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the family.

In it, lawyers also accuse the defendants — listed as Penns Grove Gardens, its operator, and Housing Management Resources — of failing to abide by a local ordinance passed in response to another killing at the apartment. That ordinance requires all complexes within the municipality to install exterior security cameras and lighting to improve safety for residents.

"Women and their children should not have to fear for their lives — or lose them — because their landlords and the parties they contract with fail to keep those women and children safe," Jackson said in a statement Tuesday.

"The defendants here didn't bother to follow a law that was passed to address their own bad behavior, and the predictable result was an even worse tragedy. We hope this lawsuit sends shockwaves through the New Jersey landlord community and makes landlords realize the health and safety of their tenants should trump all other considerations — especially profits," he added.

Ummm…if husband was a tenant on the lease/ rental agreement ..I’m not sure the landlord can just change the locks. …..

There is so much left out of this that it is ridiculous.

It will be interesting to see if a judge will rule that a LL MUST change the locks upon request of one party to a pair of lessees.

Does NJ have a statute REQUIRING such change of lock? I note that the victims seem to not have filed for any order of protection.

If I considered somebody areal threat, like this person seemed to do, I would either get my own locks and change them myself or I would move out of the area. I would also make sure I was armed.

"prompting her to separate from him and obtain a restraining order on Jan. 16, 2020, ousting him from the apartment they shared."

Sorry, I missed that.

If she obtained a restraining order, then what did it say? If she had asked for order to exclude the husband from the property, the order should have said so, and if the order was to order the landlord to change the locks, then the landlord should have been summoned (OR ex-parte), ordered and notified that he was ordered to change the locks. If he was never notified of the order, he cannot be expected to comply. What else would the suit be based on?

In Pennsylvania, there are specific statutes dealing with this. I don't know how it works when someone has a protection order but I know enough that I would need to figure out quickly what to do should a tenant ever be in this situation.

I also agree that he would have done this with or without new locks.

And while few of us here advocate for tenants changing their own locks, she should have and dealt with the landlord when the discovered the change.

I think the security lights and cameras may be the real problem here ... but again, they wouldn't have stopped this.

I am a Contractor with many licenses and also a locksmith. One of my tenants throws out her husband after the rent it paid (by him). Then when the rent is due again, takes him back in. For awhile she would "demand" that I change her locks in fear from her husband. After awhile this got to be a constant routine, and I was getting sink of making a special trip, wasting my time and money -- the cost of new key blanks and tumbler pins.

So I consulted with my eviction attorney. He confirmed that in my State and City, when a "women/mom" is in fear of her life and the lives of her children, it is the responsibility of the "landlord" to change the locks.

But I said then to my attorney, this has been going on for months, a constant revolving door!

After checking up and consulting others, my attorney gave me new advice. Notify "this" tenant that she will need to file for a restraining order, OR provide me with a police report, to get the locks changed for free. Otherwise I will charge her $100 a pop, in advance so long as the rent is current and paid in full. Otherwise, she can call and pay a locksmith.

I told my tenant and she then reported me to the Housing Department, Rent Control, City Services, Fair Housing, Section 8 and the Contractors Licensing Board. All this and called me Discriminating against her because she is a minority and a single parent.

When several of those department called me back, I had the privilege to inform them that her abusive husband is living back at home now because they think I'm a money tree about to drop some cash in their hands to make this issue go away. At a hearing I had proof that I re-keyed the locks six times in a 10 month period, all because she a witch on a mission. Oh and this apartment has 9 locks.

So to resolve this pain in the neck I evicted this tenant, putting her, her husband and 18 year old son on the eviction papers. After I won, her husband now had an eviction record and LOST HIS JOB. He was an outside accountant with a firm that dealt with sensitive clients. Their employee's can't have financial issues and no-payment of rent is a no-no.

I don't think cameras would have stopped this.

I wonder if this property is under a trust and how it is set up?

Interesting how the crime is blamed on the landlord and not the person who committed the offense.

...well I blaming the fork I used for me over eating on Thanksgiving then....