Irish woman killed in New York murder-suicide was ‘a friend to many’, memorial told

“We’d take each other’s clothes all the time. My wardrobe was full of her stuff, and when she left for America, I remember looking at her suitcase, thinking: ‘Hey, half of that is mine!’”

Speaking about her elder sister Denise, Shannon Morgan (24) sounded upbeat, or at least tried to. In New York City with her mother Deirdre, father Noel and sister Lisa (41), such anecdotes and occasional laughter masked the pain and stemmed the tears as they recalled times past.

Denise Morgan, a 39-year-old mother of one, from the village of Tullyallen, just outside Drogheda, was shot dead in the early hours of Saturday, October 21st by her boyfriend, Joed Taveras (33), after returning home from work.

Two gunshots were heard, and 911 was called. Emergency services arrived at the apartment in Glendale, a leafy neighbourhood, just half an hour’s drive from Manhattan’s midtown, and discovered a man and a woman with head injuries. Both were declared dead at the scene.

Taveras, having shot his partner at close range, then shot himself, in what police are treating as a murder-suicide.

Last Friday, the family went to Denise’s apartment, still a crime scene where, under police supervision, they again looked through her outfits. This time it was to decide upon what she would wear for her memorial service.

On the previous afternoon, the Morgans were standing outside Bar43, a popular venue in the once predominantly Irish neighbourhood of Sunnyside, Queens. Amid the chatter from the pub and restaurant where Denise had worked for several years, passersby would approach to pay their respects.

Fists were bumped, hands shaken and bodies hugged. “So sorry for your loss,” they’d say.

Bridget Dolphin, a long-time friend of Denise, got to know her when she was the Louth woman’s landlord. The two became close friends and Denise had agreed to move back to Dolphin’s property, away from Taveras, amid continued allegations of mental and physical abuse. She was due to relocate on November 1st.

“She did everything for her little girl. She worked so hard. He had gotten abusive, verbally and, I believe, physically. He wouldn’t let her move out. Denise was crying for help. I’ve carried the guilt since I heard what happened. I Just always felt something wasn’t right,” said Dolphin, whose brother Tommy was killed in New York City in 1986.

“I was telling her to call the cops. She’d tell me he’d gotten physical, throwing all her stuff around the apartment, even controlling her social media profiles. With what happened to my brother, I can relate to what her family are going through,” said Dolphin, whose parents were born in Co Sligo.

On Saturday, a large group of bikers gathered outside Denise’s apartment, where they tied purple balloons to the gates and to their bikes, and made speeches, raising awareness for domestic violence.

A memorial service was held for the murdered woman at St Theresa’s church in Sunnyside on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking at the service, which was attended by several hundred people, Rev Richard Conlon said: “We are dealing with something that is extremely senseless and extremely difficult and beyond what our minds can wrap itself around; [it] makes no sense.

“A 39-year-old woman in the prime of her life and a woman who was obviously well loved. A turnout like this doesn’t happen very often. I’m sure her parents are very overwhelmed by this, her sisters … how many lives she touched.

“This doesn’t happen by accident. She extended herself to people. She was a friend to many.”

The Morgan family members were due to fly home with her body on Monday. Morgan is survived by her parents Noel and Deirdre, her brother John, her sisters Lisa and Shannon and her daughter Mollie.