The sexual misconduct scandals surrounding the Catholic Church just got mirkier.
A former New Jersey priest and teacher who was accused of groping young boys was found shot to death in his Nevada home over the weekend, authorities said.
Police conducting a welfare check Saturday found the body of a John Capparelli, 70, in the house he owned on Bonner Springs Drive in Henderson, Nevada, authorities said.
Capparelli had been shot once in the neck. His body was found in the kitchen about 5:10 p.m., according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
Last month, Capparelli’s name was included a list of 188 priests and deacons in the state who had been “credibly accused” of sex crimes against children. New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses released the names while under mounting pressure to identify clergy accused of sexual misconduct.
Accused of groping and brutalizing teenage boys, Capparelli was suspended from the ministry in 1992. Nearly two decades later, after The Star-Ledger revealed he was working as a public school teacher in Newark, the state revoked his certificates.
Though he was never convicted of a crime, multiple accusers said Capparelli made them wrestle in swimwear while he took photos. He was also linked to a fetish website that he allegedly ran from his home.
In the years following the accusations, Capparelli moved from New Jersey to Nevada. Public records show he purchased the home in Henderson, a city of 300,000 residents just outside of Las Vegas, in 2016 shortly after selling his home in Belleville.
So was this a suicide or a murder?