A man wanted in connection with Saturday evening’s shooting at the Fashion Crossing Plaza was found dead Sunday afternoon, according to authorities.
In a press release issued by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, the body of Steven Fregeolle, 32, of Johnston, R.I., was found in a wooded area of the Francis C. Carter Memorial Preserve in Charlestown, R.I. on Sunday, June 23, at approximately 6:30 p.m. A black handgun was found next to his body. Although an autopsy is still pending, it appears that he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. An autopsy on the victim is also pending.
Fregeolle had been the suspect in the death of Brandi Berg, 37, of Riverside, R.I., who was found having sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the parking lot of Fashion Crossing Plaza on Route 1 on Saturday, June 22, at 6:17 p.m.
Witnesses told police that the suspect had approached the victim’s vehicle while allegedly aiming a handgun and fired multiple times through the windshield. The investigation revealed that the suspect and victim had worked together at a car dealership in Warwick. They had also been in a previous relationship.
“Just prior to the shooting, the victim had texted her current boyfriend stating that the suspect was in the parking lot and had confronted her about her seeing someone else,” the statement read. “The suspect had recently been messaging the victim frequently and was displaying obsessive behavior towards her. He had allegedly been contacting her friends and family to learn her whereabouts and sent several desperate text messages to the victim.”
A state trooper and Bridgewater Police officer were in the area at the time of the shooting and followed the suspect’s vehicle as he fled the area. The officers relayed that the suspect was driving a blue Subaru and provided the license plate information. A warrant for Fregeolle’s arrest on a charge of murder was issued Sunday morning at 4 a.m. At noon that day the suspect’s vehicle was located at the wildlife sanctuary, with the cell phone and identification inside. For the next several hours, a team comprised of a Narragansett Police K9 officer and his K9, a Charlestown Police officer and a member of the Rhode Island State Police searched the area, eventually locating the body.
