EVESHAM, N.J. -- They married on Halloween 1998 - in costume.
On their five-year anniversary, Marcie and Walter Buczynski celebrated again, throwing a costume party for 100. He dressed as a pimp. She dressed as a showgirl.
Things were apparently going great at work for Buczynski then. The two-hour daily commute from his home in South Jersey to his office at Fieldstone Mortgage Co. in Columbia was a drain. But he'd been named an executive vice president that year and was being paid more than anyone else except the CEO.
The real estate market was booming, and so was the business of lending money to people with bad credit - Fieldstone's specialty. Few people then were familiar with the term "subprime."
At noon Friday, Evesham Township police found Marcie's body in the bedroom of the couple's Marlton home, dead from what the Burlington County, N.J., medical examiner ruled yesterday was a broken neck caused by blunt force trauma. Twenty minutes later, officers from the Delaware River and Bay Authority responded to a call that someone driving Walter's car had leapt from the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Authorities still had not found Walter Buczynski's body as of late yesterday. But police said they found a note in his blue Acura SUV directing them to Marcie's body. Walter Buczynski wrote that his actions were motivated by the couple's personal relationship, rather than economic troubles, police said.
Yesterday morning, no one answered the door at the couple's yellow suburban home set in a cul de sac of newer houses. The shades were drawn, but for one set framed by leopard print drapes. White carnations were laid on the front steps with a note attached:
"Marci,
"Our friend, you will always be on our minds and will forever live in our hearts.
"With love"
Neighbors came to their doors in nightclothes and quietly asked for privacy. They said they were in shock. The Buczynskis always seemed so friendly, so normal - not the type that this sort of thing would touch.
They were known throughout town for their Halloween parties. Walter even gave planning tips to the local South Jersey paper, the Courier-Post. Marcie, 37, gardened in the yard and decorated for every holiday. Walter went to barbecues and chatted up the mortgage business.
"They seemed like a happy couple," said neighbor Colby Tyner. "I never thought anything like this would happen."
