Report: Heavy drinking before Phoenix murder-suicide involving ex-county attorney’s widower

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A new police report released on Friday says heavy drinking and a fight at a Christmas party led the widower of a former Maricopa County attorney to shoot and kill his girlfriend and her mother before turning the gun on himself.

Witnesses said on Christmas Eve night, family members of David De Nitto, who was married to ex-Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel until she died in April 2022, were having fun at the party near 2nd Avenue and Bethany Home Road, but adults were taking lots of shots of peanut butter whiskey. Family members said “things were getting out of control,” and De Nitto was getting aggressive with his sons and told them to “shut the **** up.”

De Nitto’s girlfriend, Maryalice “Molly” Cash, and her mother, Cindy Domini, got into a fight, according to Cash’s son, because Domini wasn’t listening to Cash. Cash is Domini’s caretaker because she has Alzheimer’s. Cash’s son said De Nitto reportedly tried to lift the rocking chair Domini was sitting in because Cash was trying to lift her. De Nitto then went into the kitchen and started throwing glasses, police said. De Nitto then told Cash’s son to get out of the house, and he started gathering everyone to go.

That’s when De Nitto grabbed Cash from behind and spun her head first into a wall, police said. Cash’s son intervened and “body checked” De Nitto, police records said. He then punched De Nitto in the face, and then De Nitto grabbed an alcohol bottle and chased him up the street. The two eventually returned to the house separately, and Cash’s son got his girlfriend into the car to leave. As they did, they saw De Nitto aim an AR-15 rifle at them. They drove off but then circled back around to get Cash and Domini. When they pulled up to the front of the house, Cash’s son saw his mother and grandmother and then heard three shots. Domini was then on the ground.

He didn’t see his mother. De Nitto’s two boys then ran from the garage and got into the car. The group drove off and called 911.

Police said officers found Cash and Domini dead inside the garage. De Nitto shot himself and was found dead also in the garage near the door to the house. Cash’s son believed De Nitto got “overly jealous” of Cash being Domini’s full-time caregiver and “wanted her all to himself.”

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