Delaware woman spied on husband's lover days before shooting her in the head and turning the gun on herself
A man whose wife shot and killed the woman he was having an affair with before turning the gun on herself has spoken out for the first time since the gruesome murder-suicide.
Jennair Gerardot knew that her marriage with Mark Gerardot, her husband of 24 years, was coming apart at the seams. But for the longest time, she had no proof to back up that suspicion.
All that changed when the tracking devices she had planted on his car and listening devices she had sewn into his clothes confirmed her worst fear: that he was cheating on her with Meredith Chapman, the 33-year-old woman who had hired him to work at the University of Delaware.
In one of the audiotapes she secretly recorded, and which were obtained by ABC's '20/20' for an episode about the entire ordeal, she can be heard telling Mark, "You don’t find me appealing. You don’t find me attractive. You don’t want me anymore. You don’t even like me. You are miserable."
"She lights your fire, she makes you feel young," she told him, referencing Chapman. "You’re excited, it’s all fresh. You’re getting to know each other and you are in love with her..."
But before she decided to take the drastic step of ending both hers and Chapman's life in April 2018, she had desperately sought out advice on a neighborhood app.
She had only moved to Wilmington, Delaware, that previous December after working for a South Carolina-based manufacturing company called Circor Instrumentation for the better part of five years and didn't know who to turn to for help in alien surroundings.
She initially sought out "a reputable and successful and driven divorce attorney" before returning to the app in March that year and seeking out "an EXCELLENT marriage counselor for the couple on brink of divorce."
"We will need someone who is very educated and experienced dealing with couples issues including infidelity, depression, traumatic experiences, child/parent dynamics, being accountable for actions, etc," she wrote.
But neither avenue bore fruit. On April 23, 2018, Jennair donned a wig and drove to Chapman's residence in Lowry's Lane, Radnor Township, Pennsylvania in a black Cadillac XTS that she had rented a week prior. She left her binoculars, ammunition, gloves, and earplugs behind in the vehicle and then broke the glass near the front door to break in.
She proceeded to clean up the glass and waited for Meredith, who lived alone, to arrive back home. She reached home between 5 and 6 pm. As she entered, Jennair shot her dead with a bullet to the head. Jennair then used a second bullet to kill herself.
It was the same night that she and Mark were supposed to meet to thrash out divorce agreements. So, when Jennair didn't show up, he knew something was wrong.
When she sent him a picture of trash with a condom in the middle, he knew she was at Meredith's house. He drove there as quickly as he could, only to be informed by officers at the scene that both she and his wife were dead.
Some of the last text messages she sent him read, "You ruined my life. I hope you find never happiness."
Now, speaking out for the first time since that fateful day for the '20/20' episode, Mark has expressed regret for his affair.
"I broke her heart and more than anything, [out] of all of this, my regret comes back to breaking her heart and making her feel like she had no other choice," he said. "I wish I wouldn't have hurt her because I loved her. I still love her. I wish I could take it back."
The episode airs Friday (10 p.m. ET) on ABC.