NJ Man Who Murdered His Family Thanksgiving 1976 Set Free

NORTH JERSEY, NJ — A 64-year-old man who killed his parents and brothers in Bergen County in 1976, while he was home from military school for Thanksgiving, has been paroled after serving 45 years in state prison.

Prison records show that Harry De La Roche, who was convicted of killing his family in Montvale over Thanksgiving 1976, was freed from South Woods State Prison in South Jersey.

As of June 29, De La Roche is "in a residential community program," according to NJ.com.

According to a January 1978 New York Times account of the trial, De la Roche, then 18, was home on leave from the Citadel Academy in Charleston, S.C. He used a gun to kill his father Harry Sr., 44, mother Mary Jane, 50, and two brothers — Ronald, 15, and Eric, 12.

Accounts said that when first caught by police, he claimed that he had come home to find that Ronald had killed his parents and brother. But he later confessed to the four killings.

After a jury trial, De La Roche was given life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 14 years.

Since then, De La Roche had been denied parole six times.

Motives

New Jersey native Danny Aiello narrated a 2008 video about the crime, in which he notes that violence can happen even in the quietest suburbs.

The documentary includes comments from people who knew the family and Harry, including several remarks about the father and son's sometimes tense relationship.

According to the New York Times account of the 1978 trial, people who knew the family said that the 6-foot-3 De La Roche was not athletic and popular as the rest of the family, but the family was well liked.

The Times story said De La Roche didn't fit in at military school and wanted to come home, but feared his father's reaction.

The Times said that according to De La Roche's confession to police, the night of the murders, he went out drinking at a disco in Rockland County, N.Y., then came home to his sleeping family.

“Finally I walked into my parents’ room, got real close to my father, must have stood in his room about a half an hour just holding the pistol up. Finally I said ‘I can't go back,’ closed my eyes and pulled the trigger."

When his brother Eric tried to leave, De La Roche said, he assured him it was all a dream and shot him.

According to the New York Times story about the trial, De La Roche's lawyer entered an insanity defense, but the jury was not convinced.

Read about the case in the New York Times here.

(Other NJ Crime Coverage: Attempted Murder Suspect From Bergen County Is Caught In NYC)