Ex-priest accused of abusing boys found murdered

John Capparelli had a quiet life going in Henderson, Nevada, a bedroom community south of Las Vegas.

The 70-year-old occasionally chatted with neighbors as he walked his black lab. He had put 2,500 miles between himself and the allegations that shadowed his name in New Jersey.

But after Capparelli failed to appear for a few days this month, Henderson police conducted a wellness check at his house Saturday. They found Capparelli dead on his kitchen floor, shot through the neck. The death was ruled a homicide.

In Henderson, the death initially made headlines as the third homicide notched in the city of 300,000 this year. Back east, however, Capparelli’s murder detonated with considerably more shock.

A Catholic priest from 1980 to 1992, Capparelli had been accused by at least two dozen men of sexual misconduct. The allegations included groping and forcing young men to wrestle in swimsuits while he photographed the encounters, according to Nj.com. Even after he was suspended from the church in 1992, Capparelli continued working with children as a public-school teacher.

That career came to an abrupt end in 2011 when the Star-ledger newspaper reported on the past allegations. It also revealed his ties to the operation of a fetish website. He was never criminally charged with any wrongdoing and always maintained his innocence.

But Capparelli’s past continued to haunt him. Last month, New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses released a list of 188 members of the clergy who were “credibly accused” of child abuse. Capparelli was included.

A month later, he was killed in Nevada, where he had been living since 2016. Authorities have not released any details about suspects or motives. The ex-priest’s death comes as dioceses nationwide, including the Diocese of Columbus, begin to excavate decades of abuse allegations and coverups.

“The world is a safer place without him,” Rich Fitter, one of Capparelli’s accusers, told Nj.com. “The guy had a 40-year record of abuse. Whatever lead to his death, it’s a certain amount of karma.”