Lawyer was victim of murderous jealousy, friends say

The victim of a West Chester man's apparent murderous jealousy on Monday was a Manhattan lawyer, friends said yesterday.

Police said Anthony Ottaviano, 35, was shot by David P. Krieg, 42, of West Chester, around midnight. Krieg, who later killed himself, was waiting in Philadelphia when Ottaviano returned from dinner with his girlfriend, who lived in an apartment complex in the 1200 block of Brandywine Street, police said.

"It's a dark day; we lost a good person," said Donn Winn, a lifelong friend.

Winn, a New York state trooper, said he grew up with Ottaviano in Tonawanda, near Buffalo. He said he talked to Ottaviano last week and learned that his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, Krieg, was stalking her.

He said he encouraged Ottaviano to have her look into a restraining order. Philadelphia police said no such order was in place.

Police said Krieg followed the pair into the apartment's parking garage, shot Ottaviano in the chest, and abducted the 27-year-old woman, whose name is not being released by police. Krieg freed the woman after driving her around for four hours, police said.

Ottaviano's body went undiscovered until the woman was able to call West Chester police, who contacted Philadelphia authorities at 4:45 a.m. A patrol car was sent out and officers found Ottaviano dead of a gunshot wound, police said.

"Nothing could be seen from the street," explained Philadelphia Police Sgt. Charles Coan.

Krieg, whose expletive-laden Myspace page details his interests in latex, leather, tattoos and violent music, took his own life after a nine-hour standoff with police in a Chester County restaurant parking lot.

Madelaine Miller, a spokeswoman for the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm in New York City, said Ottaviano started working for the firm on Sept. 11, 2006, as a staff attorney. Miller said Ottaviano was a 1997 graduate of New York Law School, where he worked on the law review.

Winn said he and Ottaviano kept in touch with a group of more than 20 friends from grade school and high school, getting together at Christmas and during the summer.

Winn said Ottaviano is survived by his father, Anthony Sr., and a brother, Michael. Ottaviano's mother died two years ago after a two-year battle with cancer, Winn said.

"He drove up to Buffalo every weekend for two years to be with her," said Winn. "That's the kind of person he was."

Jack Baughman, a partner at Paul Weiss, described Ottaviano as "caring, honest and hard-working."

"People really liked him," said Baughman. "He's going to be really missed."