The grandmother of Victoria Pacheco, the Florida sheriff’s deputy who committed suicide days after her fellow-cop boyfriend took his own life, has likened the suicides of the couple to a “tragic Romeo and Juliet story.”
In a Facebook post, Pacheco’s grandmother, Bernice Bartolini, wrote: “My heart is so sad I thought I was hurting before I lost my beautiful granddaughter.”
“Tragic Romeo and Juliet story. They are now together forever,” she wrote. “This loss is so painful for everyone so please be kind and watch your family keep them close to your heart. Victoria and I were very close when I lived in Florida, she was there for me. I wish I could have been there for her. My insides are being torn apart, my heart hurts so bad.”
In a previous post, Bartolini wrote that she felt like she was “watching someone else’s life in a movie, can’t grasp the reasoning for this pain.”
Pacheco, a 23-year-old St. Lucie County Deputy, took her own life two days after her fiance and father of her child, Deputy Clayton Osteen, 24, killed himself on Jan. 2. The couple left behind their one-month-old son an orphan.
Osteen had previously served in the US Marines before joining the St. Lucie County police department in 2019. In 2020, he was awarded Deputy of the Year, a year after joining the department, WPTV reported, citing his personnel records.
Osteen is also remembered for saving someone’s life after performing CPR on the person who overdosed on drugs, according to the news outlet.
Pacheco joined the force in 2020 and received an award in 2021 for her involvement in also saving a person who overdosed on drugs, the station added.
A statement for the child on a GoFundMe page reads: “Clayton and Victoria were joy-filled, first-time parents excited about their growing family, enamored with their baby Jayce, and so in love with each other.”
“Tragically, for reasons completely unknown and totally out of character, Clayton took his own life December 31st, 2021. Reeling from the shock of loss, Victoria took her own life two days later,” the statement continues.