Franklin Township officer indicted in Pittstown murder response

⚠️ A Hunterdon County grand jury indicted a Franklin Township police sgt. over his response to 911 calls.

➡️ Prosecutors say the officer delayed his response before two homicide victims were found the next day.

🔴 The officer's attorney says his client is being made a scapegoat for broader institutional failures.

A Franklin Township police officer has been indicted on charges of misconduct in his response to the scene of what turned out to be a double murder in Pittstown, carried out by a state trooper who fled and then took his own life.

Following the Hunterdon County grand jury decision, the defense attorney for the suspended officer said the prosecutor will ultimately “regret” trying the case.

He said his client, Sgt. Kevin Bollaro, is being scapegoated for previous failures at the municipal and state levels based on the victim’s requests for help.

“At the absolute very worst, Kevin Bollaro, with an unblemished record for 24 plus years, did a bad job at his job on that day. That is not a crime and they cannot make it one, no matter how much some people hate cops,” attorney Charles Sciarra said in a statement to New Jersey 101.5.

Indictment focuses on officer's actions after multiple 911 calls

On Aug. 1, 2025, three separate 911 calls were placed around 7 p.m., reporting gunshots and screams in the area of White Bridge and Upper Kingtown Roads.

As the officer on duty, Bollaro was sent to investigate — but first drove in the opposite direction to withdraw some money from an ATM in Clinton Township.

He arrived at the first 911 caller’s rural home about 17 minutes later. He failed to turn on his body-worn camera and declared the calls as thoroughly checked out, 12 minutes later.

Bollaro then spent a good chunk of his shift at Duke’s Pizzeria, the Pittstown Inn, and Locust Grove Cemetery, GPS records show.

Late the next morning, the father of Lauren Semanchik found his 33-year-old daughter and her new boyfriend, Tyler Webb, both shot to death at the slain veterinarian’s Pittstown home.

The law firm representing both the Semanchik and Webb families declined to comment on the indictment of Bollaro on Thursday, attorney David Mazie said.

Neighbors call 911 for help moments after Pittstown gunshots, screams(Google Maps, Canva, Townsquare Media Illustration)

Defense says officer could not have prevented the killings

Sciarra said his heart breaks for the Semanchik and Webb families, who are looking for answers and justice.

“Their loved ones were assassinated at close range by a maniac who then went and killed himself and nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do could change any of that,” Sciarra said in the same statement.

“Facts will demonstrate this call was handled like the hundreds of other ‘shots fired’ calls, with or without yelling, that regularly came into those local police departments. People in that area have large properties and guns are part of the culture. Indeed, there is a shooting range a short distance from the sight of these murders,” Bollaro’s attorney said.

“We have researched and obtained thousands of dispatch call records and the Court will hear how common these calls were and how routine were the responses.”

Bollaro has been suspended since late last summer.

“They will be dragged back and forth to Court seeking answers to serious questions about calls for help in the prior months that went unmet. They want justice. They will not get it from the criminal prosecution of Kevin Bollaro, a local police officer who had nothing to do with any of this domestic violence tragedy and was just starting his shift when these calls came in some time after their loved ones were murdered.”

Questions remain about the killings and prior calls for help

Investigators have said the evidence shows that Semanchik’s ex boyfriend, State Police Lt. Ricardo Santos, had followed her home and lurked in some nearby woods until Webb arrived, gunning them both down on Aug. 1, 2025.

Santos drove off. The next day, about 30 miles away in a Middlesex County Park, he was found dead in his SUV on what was his 45th birthday, according to public records.

911 calls on the night of the homicides

In all three 911 calls on Aug. 1,2025 women who lived in Semanchik's rural neighborhood described how gunshots and screams rang out so loudly and eerily that it moved them to call for help.

Attorneys for the Semanchik and Webb families previously pointed out that police did not bother to turn up Semanchik's driveway to check on the property that the first 911 caller had described as just "down the hill."

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