A 37-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted Tuesday, April 16, of first-degree murder for killing Samantha Jean Rementer two years ago in the Holland section of Northampton Township.
Thadius William McGrath, 37, of Chatham, Mass., was found guilty by Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. of first-degree murder, two counts of child endangerment, two counts of recklessly endangering another person, and two counts of possession of an instrument of crime.
Bateman sentenced McGrath to a mandatory sentence of life without parole for the murder conviction, and consecutive sentences of five to 10 years in state prison and 17 years of probation on the remaining charges.
Rementer, a 31-year-old mother of two, was described by her family as selfless, caring and loving. In victim impact statements, Rementer’s family detailed how the murder devastated their lives, and how it would affect her two daughters, who were home at the time of the murder.
During the degree-of-guilt hearing that began on Monday, Deputy District Attorney Thomas C. Gannon presented evidence that included testimony from Northampton Township Police officers who responded to a home in the 12000 block of Clark Court for a report of a suicidal person on June 8, 2022.
Bodycam footage showed officers knocking on a door and announcing their presence but getting no response. After two gunshots were heard inside, the front door opened and a 4-year-old girl covered in blood emerged, frantically telling the officers that McGrath killed her mother, and then shot himself. The girl was taken to safety and a Northampton Township officer entered the home and safely removed a second younger child, who was seated in a highchair.
Police found Rementer dead on the floor of the rear bedroom with blood and blunt force trauma to her face and an electric cord wrapped around her neck. McGrath, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face, was found in a second bedroom. The shooting left him with permanent injuries.
On Tuesday, forensic pathologist Zhongxue Hua testified that Rementer suffered cuts and bruises to her face and other parts of her body caused by being struck with objects that included a lamp and ladder. She died of ligature strangulation using the lamp’s electric cord, which was wrapped three times around her neck, Hua testified. She fought for her life, Hua said, as evidenced by the injuries she suffered. The manual strangulation of Rementer would have taken more than five minutes.
According to prison phone calls, McGrath told his parents the killing was premeditated, saying that he thought about what he was going to do and then told the victim he was going to kill her.
“It takes a particular level of evil to commit such a horrendous murder in front of the victim’s small children,” District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said.
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