On March 25, 2016, 47-year-old Sandy Mazzella of Wake Forest, North Carolina, was murdered in his home along with his 43-year-old wife, Stephanie, and his 76-year-old mother, Elaine. The assailant was their neighbor and former business partner, Jonathan Frederick Sander. Families had previously been close, sharing holidays and vacations, but relations soured in late 2015 over disputes tied to their landscaping business and personal conflicts.

Tensions intensified after the Mazzellas accused Sander of inappropriately touching a minor family member. In February 2016 Sandy and his father Salvatore obtained restraining orders against Sander; those orders expired the day before the killings when a judge declined to extend them. On the day of the attack Sander reportedly armed himself with a shotgun, entered the Mazzella home and fatally shot Sandy, Stephanie and Elaine. Salvatore escaped and sought help; the couple’s son was not at home and their daughter hid upstairs and was unharmed. Sander later barricaded himself, surrendered and was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

During the trial the defense said Sander handled the weapon but denied he fired the shots, citing untreated bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder as factors. In April 2019 Sander was convicted on all counts and given life without parole; at sentencing he continued to proclaim innocence and made accusations and threats in court.

Does anyone have memories of the family or information about the business disputes that might shed light on what happened?