A wife who shot and killed her husband’s mistress before turning the gun on herself had plans to kill all three, the husband has revealed.
Mark Gerardot, 48, told Dr.Oz that his wife of almost 25 years had a ‘Plan B’ to also kill him had he walked in on the murder of his lover, Meredith Chapman.
Authorities say 47-year-old Jennair shot dead Chapman, 33, who was 15 years younger than Mark, over the affair.
Mark Gerardot revealed to Dr. Oz his wife had a backup plan for to kill them all
Gerardot was married for almost 25 years to Jennair, left, when he had an affair with Meredith Chapman, 33, who was his boss and worked in marketing at University of Delaware
The shooting happened inside Chapman’s home in the wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia, known as the Main Line on April 23, 2018.
Jennair Gerardot shot Chapman in the kitchen of her house in Radnor, before killing herself.
Mark Gerardot came to discover both women dead after his wife failed to show up for a dinner meeting.
But on the Dr Oz show on Thursday, Geradot revealed how his wife left a 15-page letter stating how she would have killed him too had he walked in on the crime.
Although the letter was not shared during the show, Dr. Judith Joseph, a psychiatrist from New York, was allowed to read it.
On the Dr Oz show on Thursday, Geradot revealed how his wife left a 15-page letter stating how she would have killed him had he walked in on the murder of his mistress
Jennair, 47, right, noticed her husband, Mark, 48, had become distant and confronted him
Police say Jennair Gerardot shot Meredith Chapman at her home in Radnor, Pennsylvania (above), before taking her own life on April 23, 2018
Joseph said it appears Jennair Gerardot had borderline personality disorder, a mental health condition characterized by unstable moods, behavior and relationships.
‘Typically, you have to meet five of nine criteria; in that letter, there are all nine criteria met,’ Joseph said. ‘Every single one. I mean, that is very rare. That speaks to severe borderline personality disorder.’
So insecure was Geradot’s wife over what was happening with her estranged husband she began using disguises and concealed recording devices to track the pair.
She knew that her husband and Chapman had been secretly seeing each other shortly after she hired him to work under her in the marketing department at University of Delaware in November 2017.
Before the murder-suicide took place, Gerardot said he and his wife had arranged a set time to talk specifically about Chapman.
He learned that during one call Jennair was at a firing range.
‘I can’t picture her there. I can’t picture her buying a gun,’ Gerardot told Dr. Oz. ‘We were as anti-gun as anybody.’
Mark Gerardot (above right) with his wife Jennair. The couple ‘were happy’ the now widower says, but the marriage had its problems
A 15-page letter revealed Jennair had borderline personality disorder, a mental health disorder characterized by unstable moods, behavior and relationships
During an episode of ABC’s 20/20 last month, Gerardot admitted that he became smitten by his new, younger boss, before they began seeing each other.
He also said that while he and his wife ‘were happy’ when they married in 1993, they still had their problems.
The couple could have ‘epic’ fights, he said, and that she always had to ‘have the last word.’ They also had some financial struggles.
When Chapman, who also was in a marriage that was heading towards divorce, came into his life, Gerardot said it felt ‘amazing to be around her.’
‘I was confused by the feelings I was having, to be honest,’ he said, ‘until it became a little bit more forward with a dinner that we had. It was more of a date.’
Jennair Gerardot picked up on the affair after her husband relocated for the new job from their home in South Carolina. She had stayed behind to lease the house.
Mark Gerardot said he spent 45 days alone in Delaware, and that his wife, upon rejoining him, noticed he had become distant.
Mark Gerardot admits that he became smitten by Meredith Chapman (above), 33, after she hired him to work under her in a marketing job at University of Delaware, that it felt ‘amazing to be around her’
‘She finally asked me, “What is up with you? You’re acting different,” he recalled. ‘She said specifically, “It’s Meredith, isn’t it?”
The husband said he had mentioned Meredith’s name to Jennair previously, but only in a professional context.
At first he denied the affair. But his wife persisted in her inquiries.
Finally, as Valentine’s Day approached, he admitted he was seeing Chapman.
She then made her own admission, he said, that she had hired a company that gave her access to his phone. The wife could read all his text messages, see his photos and review records of calls with Chapman.
The couple made an attempt to reconcile with couple’s therapy. However, during their second session, Mark Gerardo says he stumbled on a flashing recording device, sewn into his jacket.
Pictured above, Mark and Jeannair Gerardot. The now-widower said she signaled trouble was coming by texting him, ‘You ruined my life,’ and ‘I hope you find never happiness,’ the evening she shot dead his mistress and then herself. She ended with one final message, ‘Bye, Mark’
‘She told me she wanted to understand the degree to which Meredith and I were in the relationship,’ Gerardot said. ‘She was determined there was a plan between Meredith and I, and she was trying to listen to what that plan was.’
The husband said divorce after that was inevitable and that he within a short time he announced his intentions to file.
Chapman, meanwhile, was married to Luke Chapman, a former Newark city councilman.
‘I broke her heart,’ says Mark Gerardot in an ABC interview last month, referring to his wife, Jennair, who police say shot her husband’s mistress before turning the gun on himself.
Jennair Gardot (above left), 47, shot dead her husband’s mistress Meredith Chapman (above right), 33, before shooting herself in what police concluded was a murder-suicide
Their divorce was official by the time Chapman moved to Radnor Township and accepted a position at Villanova University.
Sheila Brennan, a divorce coach who began working with Jennair Gerardot, said the wife was boiling with resentment and anger over ‘being tossed away’ and ‘being traded in’ for a younger woman.
She also worried about money, because she had just moved from South Carolina, and had not found new employment after a job loss.
Mark Gerardot said his wife at one point threatened to jump out a window.
She seemed to improve after he said he urged her to seek professional help and support from her family. But quietly she was keeping close tabs on the husband and his mistress, and plotting revenge.
Disturbing text messages the wife sent the husband on the same night of the the murder-suicide signaled trouble was coming.
In a letter to his dead mistress, Mark Gerardot says he tells Meredith Chapman (above) that it should have been him that died, not her. He says he’s also writing a book, which is proving cathartic
‘You ruined my life,’ one text message said, according to Mark Gerardot.
‘I hope you find never happiness,’ she said in another text, ending with one final message, ‘Bye, Mark.’
After the shootings, Mark Gerardot said he began writing to help recover from the tragedy.
In a letter to his dead mistress, he says he tells her that it should have been him that died, not her. He says he’s also writing a book, which is proving cathartic.
Geradot expresses remorse over the tragedy.
As for his dead wife, ‘my regret comes back to breaking her heart and making her feel like she had no other choice,’ he said.
‘I broke her heart,’ he says, referring to Jennair in the ABC interview.
‘I wish I wouldn’t have hurt her because I loved her. I still love her. I wish I could take it back.’