The couple who jumped to their deaths from the George Washington Bridge Monday were suspects in the murder of a New York man who was killed shortly after the suicides of Nickie Hunt-Circelli and Gary Crockett.

The couple were being sought in connection with the robbery and murder of Hunt-Circelli’s uncle, who law enforcement sources told the New York Post was slain only hours before the couple leapt to their deaths. Authorities believe the uncle was choked to death.

Neighbors in Suffern, New York, said they heard a commotion coming from the couple’s apartment before witnessing Hunt-Circelli, 40, and Crockett, 41, flee in a Chevy Malibu, the Post reported Tuesday.

“I heard a loud boom and that was it,” neighbor Josefina Rodriguez told the Post. “Those two went running. They never said a thing.”

Rodriguez said she thought her neighbors were strange, adding that she believed the couple were addicted to drugs.

“I always thought there was something wrong with them,” she said. “Maybe it was a bad energy about them. They just looked weird. Sometimes you can just tell there is something off about them.”

Authorities believe Hunt-Circellli and Crockett smothered Hunt-Circelli’s uncle following a fight and broke the uncle’s neck, Westchester News 12 reported. The couple also allegedly swiped cash and an AR-15 assault rifle from the uncle before jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

The couple were recovered alive from the Hudson River, but both died of their injuries at a local hospital, the channel reported. Hunt-Circelli and Crockett both have criminal records and reportedly implicated themselves in the uncle’s murder by writing a note.

The Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Officer ruled the uncle’s death a homicide and that he had injuries consistent with being choked to death, according to the Post.

Hunt-Circelli reportedly had a prior arrest on burglary charges, a source told the paper.

New York