Just two days after a Norwood woman was found beaten to death with a hammer in her Perry Avenue apartment, her son, who was wanted in connection with the murder, took his own life in a seedy East Gun Hill Road motel, police officials said.

Officers from the 52nd Precinct were called to 3525 Perry Ave. at just after 10:20 p.m., on Tuesday, June 25, to conduct a wellness check on longtime resident Magda Dagostino, 64.

Upon entering her second-floor apartment, police discovered Dagostino lying dead on the floor. She had suffered severe trauma “about her body,” according to a police report. Police sources say a bloody hammer lay nearby.

Neighbors were shocked to hear of the news. “She was a lovely, lovely woman,” said Helen Ginty, a friend of the victim who has been a second floor resident since the 1970s. “I am shocked. I thought she was in Puerto Rico because her curtains had been closed for the past couple of days,” she said.

Andres Perez, a resident of the first floor, was equally alarmed. “I did not see or hear any suspicious activity,” he said, recalling the hours prior to the murder.

Almost immediately, police began to search for her son, John Rodriguez, 39, a former English teacher at Queensborough Community College who was identified as a person of interest in the case.

Rodriguez had reportedly moved in with his mother about six months earlier, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who also told Eyewitness News that police had tried unsuccessfully to contact the suspect.

Police would later report that an employee at the Friendly Motel, located at 1119 E. Gun Hill Rd., entered a room on June 27 and discovered Rodriguez’ lifeless body. Officials say both his wrists were slashed and his death is believed to have been a suicide.

In a bizarre twist, as crime scene investigators collected evidence on June 26, a second investigation was being conducted in the normally quiet Perry Avenue building as police arrested resident Jason Tomczyk, 34.

Tomczyk was charged in the murder and attempted robbery of Jonathan Sanchez, 23, who was shot to death outside of 1010 Hoe Ave., also on June 25.

Neighbor Ernesto Juarez called Dagostino, “a very nice and kind lady,” but had few words with Rodriguez.

Juarez had not yet heard about Tomczyk’s arrest until a reporter told him. “That’s kind of crazy because lots of people live here with their families and kids,” he said.

The Perry Avenue building is a block away from where the bodies of a young woman and her uncle were found shot to death in an automobile on Jan. 16.

Jason Rivera, 30, and his niece Jennifer Rivera, 20, were both shot one time in the head. Their killer remains at large, but police believe the murder was connected to drug activity in the Fordham-Bedford neighborhood.