Sources: Husband in murder-suicide had earlier problems

In the weeks before Christopher Liggio shot his wife, Michelle, and then turned the gun on himself at her medical office in Pennsauken, he had been a tortured man.

At 11 p.m. April 6, Mount Laurel police responded to a domestic call at the couple's home on Brookwood Road, a record of police calls to the house shows. A second entry in the log said the call was for "psychiatric/behavioral problems."

Three law-enforcement sources said Wednesday that Christopher Liggio had cut his wrists. But the injuries were not life-threatening, said one source, adding that Michelle Liggio was not home at the time.

Another law-enforcement source said Christopher Liggio spent that night in a local crisis center. He was "distraught" that his marriage was crumbling, the source said.

Michelle Liggio, 47, a popular general practitioner, was shot to death by her husband around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at her office on Maple Avenue, authorities said. Law-enforcement sources said she had recently filed for divorce.

Her husband, a landscaper who also worked in her office, had been there earlier Tuesday, and the two argued, one law-enforcement source said. Michelle Liggio was heard saying something to the effect that the couple should let the lawyers handle matters, the source said.

Then Christopher Liggio, 58, returned with a gun. He went in to see his wife and shot her before killing himself.

She could be heard pleading, "No, no, no," by employees, law-enforcement sources said.

On Wednesday, patients continued to stream to the door outside Liggio's office, adding flowers to a growing shrine of bouquets, sympathy cards, and balloons.

Sandra White, 41, of Pennsauken, an EMT supervisor, came with her stepmother, Mary, and three of her daughters, 17, 15, and 9. They placed two bouquets of gerbera daisies and an angel figurine.

"I thought of her when I saw the angel in the flower shop," said White, who became Liggio's patient five years ago.

White recalled how Liggio once patiently sat and held the hand of a fourth daughter, a teenager at the time, as her blood was drawn. The girl had issues with needles.

Among the sympathetic sentiments left at the scene was one that ended in a burst of anger. "Forever in my greatfull loving heart. RIP Dr. Liggio," the message began, adding: "Damn your husband to hell!!!"

In February 2005, a South Jersey Magazine article, "Gifts That Glitter," portrayed Christopher Liggio as a doting partner.

Even before he and his wife married, he had given her a single pave diamond heart-shaped slide attached to a golden herringbone necklace. The occasion had been Valentine's Day more than two decades earlier. The article said the pair had been dating for three months and he knew she was "the one."

"The reason I gave her the necklace was to show her that she had captured my heart," he was quoted as saying. "I wasn't sure that I was ready for marriage at that point in time, but I knew Michelle was special and that I was falling in love."

His wife cherished the heart and chain, the article said.

"I've gone out of my way to purchase quality items for Michelle," he said then. "I shop for genuine items that will increase in value . . . and items that we will be able [to] pass on as family heirlooms."

Christopher Liggio was previously married to his wife's older sister. They had a daughter, who is now an adult, law enforcement sources said.

Christopher and Michelle Liggio had two sons, one in high school and another in college.

On Wednesday, the couple's older son, Nick, a student at Rowan University, answered the door.

"Now's not a good time," he said.

Staff writer Porus P. Cooper contributed to this article.