Friends mourn young couple slain in Bucks home
Former teachers and co-workers expressed shock and dismay at the deaths of a young Bucks County couple slain in their home.
As investigators in Bucks County sifted through evidence Thursday in the violent deaths of Tyler and Christina Roy in their Churchville home, those who knew the couple struggled with bewildering loss.
"Christina was just one of those people that when you meet them the first time, you loved them," said Amanda Helwig, a real estate broker who hired Roy, a professional photographer, to shoot her listings. "It just breaks my heart that so many people didn't get the chance to meet her and experience knowing such an amazing woman."
Roy, 27, and her husband, 28, were found shot and stabbed to death on the upper floor of their home early Tuesday by a house painter they had hired. The suspected killer, Daniel Mooney, 26, had slipped into their home through an unlocked door. He died later that day of an apparent drug overdose in Philadelphia's Kensington section, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.
>>READ MORE: Suspect in murder of young Bucks couple found dead of overdose
Investigators are unsure of a motive for the slayings, which followed a prolonged and bloody struggle, they said. Both Roys had been stabbed multiple times and shot by a rifle that belonged to Tyler Roy, authorities said.
Helwig was one of many real estate brokers in the area who knew Christina Roy well. She was a photographer who had a reputation for skill and professionalism. Helwig had forged a personal bond with Roy as well: She hired her to take regular portraits of Tennyson, her infant daughter. Their next session was to be in June.
"She had her whole life ahead of her," Helwig said. "This shouldn't have happened to her."
Mooney had no apparent prior connection to the couple, according to investigators.
His family lives a few doors away from the Roy house on Kitty Knight Drive, but investigators believe he hadn't lived at the home for some time. Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney Gregg Shore said Mooney's family has fully cooperated with the investigation.
In the weeks leading up to the murders, Mooney had been staying at a drug rehabilitation facility in Bucks County, but had recently left it, officials said. Mooney's Facebook page says that he previously lived at Dunklin Memorial Church, a faith-based rehabilitation facility in Florida, and was working for a local contractor.
At Archbishop Wood High School, where the victims graduated in 2008, the mood was somber Thursday.
Don Mangin, the school's assistant principal for student services, choked up as he recounted memories of Tyler Roy, whom he coached on Wood's lacrosse team.
"He was just an exceptional young man: smart and witty, with a dry sense of humor," he said. Mangin followed Roy as he went on to play the sport at York College, and kept in touch with him recently as he played in adult recreational leagues with Mangin's sons.
"He remained the same type of great person he was, and that's a real credit to his parents," Mangin said. "I can't imagine what they're going through right now."
Chris Tamburini, Wood's fine arts chairperson, said the entire school was shaken by the deaths. She taught Christina Roy in art class, describing her as a "light" that was "beautiful both inside and out."
"It's heart-wrenching; because we're a tight-knit family here," Tamburini said. "They were just good, kind people — that's what makes it so difficult."