THE DARK FAMILY LEGACY: Killer husband’s brother fatally shot their father in 2020 before this week’s murder-suicide.
A horrifying murder-suicide in Astoria, Queens, has unsealed a deeply disturbing family history of violence and trauma. The tragic killing of 34-year-old Mary Kate Golding inside her home has brought long-simmering neighborhood concerns and a dark familial past back into the public light.
As local detectives piece together the final hours of 33-year-old Joseph Azzaretto, residents and investigators alike are confronting a pattern of severe domestic conflict—one that previously claimed the life of Azzaretto’s father in a fatal shooting six years earlier.
The Astoria Tragedy: A Phone Confession and an Abandoned Infant
The tragic sequence of events unfolded during the early morning hours inside a home near 41st Street and 19th Avenue in Astoria, Queens. According to NYPD law enforcement reports, 34-year-old Mary Kate Golding was stabbed to death inside her residence following a domestic altercation.
In a chilling turn, Joseph Azzaretto placed a phone call to a family friend, confessing that he had stabbed his wife. He then fled the scene, leaving the couple’s defenseless 11-month-old baby boy, Nolan, completely unattended inside the home alongside his deceased mother.
First responders and the family friend rushed to the residence around 12:30 a.m., where Golding was found unresponsive with severe stab wounds to her back. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. The 11-month-old infant was evaluated by EMS and safely rescued. Approximately six hours later, police officers searching nearby Astoria Park discovered Joseph Azzaretto hanging from a tree, concluding a multi-agency dragnet with his death ruled a suicide.
Neighborhood Warnings: Threatening Notes and Erratic Behavior
In the wake of the murder-suicide, neighbors in the surrounding community came forward, revealing that Joseph Azzaretto had exhibited long-term signs of being “mentally disturbed” and volatile.
Local residents reported frequent disputes with Azzaretto, noting that he repeatedly left aggressive, threatening notes over minor parking space grievances and neighborhood issues. While neighbors described Mary Kate Golding as a warm, loving mother whose world revolved around her young son, many expressed that Azzaretto’s escalating instability had created an underlying sense of unease along the block long before the fatal night.
The 2020 Legacy: Brother Nicholas Azzaretto Fatally Shoots Father
This week’s horrific murder-suicide is not the first deadly violence to scar the Azzaretto family. In February 2020, Joseph Azzaretto’s younger brother, Nicholas Azzaretto, was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of their father, 58-year-old Frank Azzaretto, in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
According to court filings and state police reports from the 2020 incident:
The Dispute: A physical domestic altercation erupted inside the family’s Wisteria Court home in Stroud Township after Frank Azzaretto got into a dispute with his wife over a phone bill.
Escalation: When Frank began pushing his wife, Nicholas Azzaretto, then 20 years old, stepped in to intervene. Frank pushed Nicholas into the basement and continued breaking items in the kitchen and confronting his wife.
The Fatal Shot: Nicholas returned to the kitchen area with a shotgun and shot his father in the chest. Frank Azzaretto was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono, where he succumbed to his injuries.
A Cycle of Violent Trauma
The revelation that both brothers were involved in separate, fatal domestic incidents years apart has shocked local communities in both New York and Pennsylvania. Legal experts and domestic violence advocates note that unaddressed trauma, combined with severe psychological distress, often creates volatile environments when intervention does not occur early.
As family members step in to care for 11-month-old Nolan following the sudden loss of both his parents, neighbors in Astoria continue to place candles and floral tributes outside the 41st Street home, mourning a bright young mother whose life was cut short by an inescapable family tragedy.
