Published: August 04, 2008 09:15 am      

Shooting leaves friends of gunman in double murder, suicide 'stunned'

EBENSBURG — An outdoorsman, soccer coach, and a retired Marine captain who worked for a defense subcontractor and consultant, David Gerlach on the surface was an outstanding husband and father.

But the man had a dark and troubled side that led him to shoot to death his wife and another man before turning the gun on himself.

Details continue to emerge about the June 29 double-murder/suicide in Cambria Township, where Debra Gerlach, 41, and Paul Demetri, 44, who was visiting her from Maryland, were slain in her home.

David Gerlach was a career U.S. Marine, rising from the rank of enlisted to that of officer and Marine helicopter pilot. With a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida and a master’s from Johns Hopkins University, Gerlach, 42, served in seven military installations during his career.

Fellow Marines in the Virginia-Washington, D.C. area are shocked and shaken that the man they knew would commit such murders and then kill himself.

Now, however, their first concern is the welfare of the four young children left behind, and so they are passing the hat among the military. Debra Gerlach’s family members say the children are with their grandmother and that the family plans to keep them together.

“I’m very surprised that he did this, but you never know what’s happening in people’s homes,” said David Krizov, a retired Marine major who now works for a defense contractor. “I served in the Marine Corps with Dave, at Quantico, and he and I worked at the same agency.

“He was a good friend. He was very upbeat. I broke my ankle once, and he used to drive me home. He was the kind of guy who would not hesitate to help you.”

Krizov and others said they were surprised by the revelations in legal papers filed in Cambria County court as part of the couple’s divorce proceedings.

References to Gerlach being ordered to continue counseling, and accounts of a domestic violence incident in 2005, were news to Krizov.

“I learned now that he was bipolar,” Krizov said, “but it was not apparent in knowing him.

“He loved his family, and in some twisted way that was probably somewhere at the bottom of this in his mind. He was probably trying to keep from losing them.”

Krizov described Gerlach as a man who openly expressed his love for his wife.

“I remember him describing how he met his wife,” Krizov said, “and how she walked toward him on the beach, and he said that was the woman he knew he was going to marry.”

The Gerlachs were well liked at their church and among friends, and they seemed to have a good life, he said.

“But who knows what goes on in someone’s house, or someone’s mind, or someone’s family?” he said. “Still, we were just stunned. He had a good, honorable career, and now we have to look out for the children.”

Krizov said that he and fellow Marines would donate to the fund established for the Gerlach children.

Debra Gerlach’s funeral was last week in Johnstown.

David Gerlach’s funeral will be held Monday in St. Joseph, Mich.

Details on Demetri’s funeral arrangements have not been made public.