State cop tracks down ex girlfriend, kills her and her boyfriend, NJ report says
A state police lieutenant found dead in his Mercedes is believed to have shot himself after being accused of killing his ex and her new boyfriend, according to investigators in New Jersey.
Ricardo Jorge Santos, a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police, and Lauren Semanchik had not been a couple since September 2024, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office said in an Aug. 4 news release.
Semanchik, 33, and her boyfriend, Tyler Webb, 29, were found fatally shot around 12:20 p.m. on Aug. 2, at a home in Pittstown, county investigators say.
It’s believed they were shot the night before, however.
“Detectives learned that on August 1, 2025, at approximately 7:08 p.m., Hunterdon County Communications received 9-1-1 calls reporting audible gunshots and screaming in the area,” officials said.
“Franklin Township Police Department responded, checked the area, but did not locate the source of the gunshots or screaming.”
Investigators learned that Semanchik, a local veterinarian, had recently complained of being harassed by her ex, resulting inSantos becoming a person of interest, officials said.
“As this information was being developed, detectives were notified that Santos was found deceased alone and inside a white 2008 Mercedes SUV,” officials said.
“Santos suffered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which the Office of the Middlesex County Medical Examiner has preliminarily determined to be a suicide. A semiautomatic handgun was also located inside the vehicle.”
Santos was linked to the killings by a surveillance video that showed Semanchik’s vehicle had been closely followed by a white 2008 Mercedes SUV the day of the shootings, officials said.
Additional video showed an individual “surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway” in the minutes before Webb arrived at the home, officials said.
“It appeared to detectives that Santos may have been involved in the homicides,” officials said.
“Considering the suspect’s subsequent suicide, we recognize that many questions remain, and healing will take time.”
Pittstown is about a 35-mile drive northwest from Trenton.
This story was originally published August 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM with the headline "State cop tracks down ex girlfriend, kills her and her boyfriend, NJ report says."