DATE: Saturday, September 6, 1997           TAG: 9709060327

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   52 lines

COUPLE HAD DECLINED OFFERS OF HELP FOR VIOLENCE IN MARRIAGE MAN KILLED HIS WIFE'S MOTHER AND THEN TOOK HIS OWN LIFE AS WELL.

The couple whose marital breakup ended in a murder-suicide Thursday night had declined offers of help from domestic-violence detectives after a previous argument turned into a shoving match, police records show.

On Thursday night, the relationship violently ended when 23-year-old Craig E. Lavallee kicked in the front door of the Pelican Watch apartment where his 25-year-old wife, Tracy, lived with her mother.

Craig Lavallee fatally shot his 56-year-old mother-in-law, and then killed himself in front of his estranged wife. The wife escaped unharmed.

Neighbors said police had been called to quell disputes in the apartment several times, but records kept by the city's Domestic Violence Unit showed only one case there.

In that case, an argument in December turned physical and police were called. Tracy and Craig, both active-duty sailors assigned to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, told the police officers that each shoved the other. But no one was hurt and no arrests were made. Instead, the case was sent to domestic-violence detectives for a follow-up, which is the Police Department's policy.

A detective visited the apartment to offer an array of social and legal services, but the couple declined the offers, police said.

The incident was mild compared to many of the 3,000 domestic-violence complaints funneled to detectives each year. Police said nothing led them to believe the couple were in need of further police intervention.

About three weeks ago, the couple separated. Craig had moved out of the apartment. Tracy and her mother, Maria Fazzolari, were living there.

About 9 p.m. on Thursday, police said, Craig Lavallee kicked open the apartment's front door and ordered his mother-in-law into a bedroom. There he shot her and then shot himself.

Tracy Lavallee ran from the apartment, past police officers who had just arrived, investigators said.

Police said they don't know for certain why Craig Lavallee targeted his mother-in-law, but they theorized he may have blamed the woman for the marital breakup.

In July, domestic-violence laws changed in Virginia. The new laws mandate that police arrest the primary aggressor in all domestic disputes. But detectives said that, even under the new law, the previous shoving match between the Lavallees probably would not have ended with an arrest.

Even in the mildest cases of domestic violence, detectives still contact the victims to offer counseling, placement in a shelter, protective orders, or help in swearing out a warrant. In cases without evidence, detectives said, they still must rely on the victims' cooperation. KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING DOMESTIC DISPUTE

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