A Rhode Island woman and her two young children were found shot dead alongside her husband in what appears to be a murder-suicide. The woman, who was seven months pregnant, failed to show up for work, causing coworkers to become concerned. They then asked police to perform a wellness check, leading to the discovery.
Because there are no survivors, it’s hard for police to establish a motive for the killing. While the police had never been called to the family home before, they did report that the husband had a previous domestic violence arrest. The woman involved in that incident was not his wife.
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Police were asked to go to the family's home.
On the morning of Friday, January 3, 2025, West Greenwich Police officers went to the home of Nicholas and Danielle Arruda at the request of Danielle Arruda’s coworkers. Danielle Arruda hadn’t shown up to work in two days, and they were concerned, WPRI reported.
According to a report by The Providence Journal, when they arrived, police found two vehicles outside of the home. But when they knocked on the door, there was no answer despite several attempts. Then, they forced their way into the home.
Police found a distressing scene inside the house.
“Officers immediately noticed the bodies of two young children, an adult male and a pregnant female,” West Greenwich Police Chief Richard N. Ramsay said in a statement. “It was apparent there were no signs of life to any of the bodies and that all four had suffered fatal gunshot wounds.”
Police found an M4-type semiautomatic firearm next to the male. Police identified him as Danielle Arruda’s husband, Nicholas Arruda. According to Ramsay, Nicholas Arruda died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police didn’t see any signs of struggle from the woman or children.
With the whole family dead, it's hard for police to figure out a motive.
“I wish there could be an explanation to help you make sense of this horrific act, but the truth is we may never know why it happened,” Ramsay said in a statement Boston 25 News published. “The investigation to date hasn’t yielded any explanation or clues as to why Nicholas Arruda committed the horrendous crime against his family before taking his own life.”
While carrying out their investigation, police found two more firearms in the home. It appears all three firearms were purchased legally.
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Nicholas Arruda had a history of domestic violence.
According to multiple reports, Nicholas Arruda had a prior felony domestic arrest in 2014. The woman involved was not Danielle Arruda. Evidently, the case was closed when the victim chose not to cooperate, Ramsay noted.
Sojourner House, a nonprofit agency in Providence that provides services and assistance to victims of domestic and sexual violence, wrote about the death of Danielle Arruda and her children in a Facebook post. “This horrific act underscores the critical need for greater awareness, prevention, and support services for those affected by domestic violence. No one should live in fear within their own home,” the post reads.
“This came out of the blue,” Danielle Arruda’s cousin, Mikayla Ruffner Cihat, told The Providence Journal. She told WPVI that she had seen Danielle and her children over the holidays. “I think that’s something that I struggle with the most, not knowing why and it being so sudden,” she said.
Family is now left behind to grieve this unimaginable loss.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Ramsay said in a statement shared by WPRI. “There’s not really much you can do with an investigation like this. It’s pretty much self-explanatory, but we still have to go through all the motions to find out if there was anything that somebody missed, any reason that would lead someone to do what he had done to his family. But to date, we have not been able to come up with anything.”
Ruffner-Cihat started a GoFundMe to help the family pay for the funerals of Danielle Arruda and her children.
Note: If you or any of your loved ones are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can always reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988. They are available 24/7 by phone or online chat.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women’s shelter domesticshelters.org.
