NEWPORT NEWS — Charles and Cynthia Seyffert were married for more than 57 years.
Charles, 79, had a knack for computers and used to fly a Cessna out of Newport News-Williamsburg Airport. Cynthia, 77, was a retired health-care accountant and more recently a volunteer at a food bank.
“They were always together,” said Jesse Jones Jr., who lived two doors down in the couple’s Hampton neighborhood. “Most of the time when they left the house, they were together.”
On the morning of May 26th, the Seyfferts were together in Room 4115, on the fourth floor of Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News. Just before 8:20 a.m., according to court records, Cynthia pulled out a 9mm handgun and fired four rounds.
Two shots missed, striking the wall. But two shots found their mark: Charles Marion Seyffert — a patient at the hospital — was found shot to death in his bed. Cynthia Lovett Seyffert, who was visiting her husband, was found shot to death in a nearby chair.
Police found the Ruger handgun and a suicide note near Cynthia, and four cartridge casings in the room. The State Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled Charles’ death a homicide and Cynthia’s a suicide.
What’s not clear is why Cynthia decided to end their lives.
The contents of Cynthia’s suicide note have not been disclosed. Newport News Police have so far declined to shed any light on her motive. And the couple’s family members either couldn’t be reached or declined to speak about what happened.
Newport News to audit city security in response to Riverside hospital shooting
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‘I’m really fond of them’
The Seyfferts got married at a United Methodist church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in January 1967, according to their wedding announcement in the Daily Press at the time.
Cynthia May Lovett, who grew up in Arlington, was then a junior at Radford College. Charles Marion Seyffert, who grew up in Hampton’s Wythe section, was a senior at Virginia Tech.
The couple moved to Hardee Court — a cul de sac off Big Bethel Road in Hampton — in 1969 and lived there for more than 55 years, according to city real estate records.
Longtime neighbors expressed shock at the Seyfferts’ sudden deaths, saying the couple they knew as “Chuck and Cindy” largely kept to themselves but were consistently cordial.
The Seyfferts lived next to a row of three families — all sharing the Jones surname — who lived on the block for decades.
“They were nice — they were nice people,” said Jesse Jones Jr., 54, who’s lived on the block for 24 years. “Whenever they’re leaving or going or coming, and if we’re out, we waved at one another and all of that.”
When Jones’ children were growing up and needed support for their school or sports fundraising efforts, they could always count on the Seyfferts to buy some of the candy or popcorn.
About a year ago, Jones said, someone dropped off a large box of vegetables — tomatoes, corn, squash and cucumbers — on his porch. He reviewed his Ring camera footage and saw that the Seyfferts had brought it over.
Another neighbor, Willie Jones, 69, has lived on the street for 35 years and began cutting grass for the Seyfferts two years ago.
“I’m really fond of them, they’re nice folks,” Jones said. “This just shocked and surprised everybody, and we’re just trying to grapple with it … They’ve always been kind to us, just like neighbors do. I have not had a minute’s issue with them, and that’s the truth.”
The Seyfferts lived on Hardee Court longer than any other family there, said Charles Jones, 93, the Seyfferts’ next door neighbor for more than four decades.
“They were here when I came in,” Jones said. “I’ve been knowing them now for quite some time. Everybody else has passed away or moved out. They were very nice people, very nice people. Didn’t bother nobody. They’re good people.”
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‘Dad’s gone — and mom is too’
Several neighbors said Charles Seyffert had a stroke a few years ago. He began using a cane to get around, but could speak as he always did and still worked on his yard and vehicles.
“He was doing everything that would be done,” Charles Jones said. “He’d get out and do what he could. He was a fine fellow.”
But one night a few months ago, Jones said, an ambulance showed up around midnight and took Charles Seyffert to the hospital. Cynthia told Jones a few days later that he had suffered another stroke.
Cynthia began spending overnights with her husband at Riverside.
“There wouldn’t be a day that would pass that she wouldn’t go over,” Jones said. Later, he said, the couple’s son moved in from out of town to share in that task.
By late May, Charles Seyffert was being treated by Select Specialty Hospital, a 25-bed rehabilitation center that leases part of Riverside’s Hospital’s fourth floor. Select’s Specialty’s website says it “helps critically ill patients to breathe, speak, eat, walk and think as independently as possible.”
A few days after the May 26th shooting, the couple’s son walked next door to Jones’ house to deliver the devastating news.
“Dad’s gone — and mom is too,” he told Jones.
But Jones said it took another week or so for him and other neighbors to piece together that the Seyfferts were the couple killed in the Riverside murder-suicide case that made local headlines.
“It was so shocking to me,” Jones said. “I haven’t really gotten over it yet. I’ll miss them.”
The Seyfferts’ 56-year-old son declined to comment for this story when he answered the door at his parents’ home on June 19. Other extended family couldn’t be reached.
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Charles flew a Cessna
Born in 1944, Charles Marion Seyffert was the third child of the late Marion and Mary Jane Seyffert, of Hampton. One of his sisters, Kay Seyffert Bales, died in 2007, while another, of Fairfax County, did not return calls.
The Nexis database lists Charles Seyffert’s past employers as the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the J.J. Henry Co., a New York-based Naval architectural firm. He founded a home-based consulting business, Computer Management Services, in 1992, state records show.
Seyffert had a private’s pilot’s license with the Federal Aviation Administration, with the most recent upgrade to his license in 2010, according to the FAA’s website.
He parked his plane — a Cessna 172N four-seater — at the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport for years. The plane’s last known flight was in November 2022, according to flightaware.com, a flight tracking website.
“Chuck was just very, very quiet and stayed pretty much to himself,” said John Bombaro, the president of Rick Aviation, a company that services small aircraft at the airport. “It’s been maybe three or four years since I’ve seen him.”
Bombaro said Charles Seyffert told him a few years back that he had some medical issues, but “that he was working on it” and expected to recover.
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Cynthia was a Sentara accountant
Born in 1946 into a military colonel’s family, Cynthia Seyffert worked for more than 30 years at Sentara Healthcare’s Norfolk headquarters as a certified public accountant. She served for many years on the board of the Virginia chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Cynthia and her husband would often come to board events together, said Margaret Thompson, a fellow board member who worked as an certified public accountant at Chesapeake General Hospital and an auditor with the Bon Secours Health System.
“They were like a little hippie couple,” Thompson said, saying the couple’s small stature and Cynthia’s long gray hair fit that image. “He’d come to our meetings and he would come to our conventions. He would travel with her.”
Cynthia often ran the registration tables at the board’s statewide meetings — and was strict about making sure the rules were followed, board members said.
Thompson said Cynthia always wanted things done a certain way. “Nobody questioned her integrity or her brains — she was a smart lady,” she said. “But she was a character.”
Cynthia retired from Sentara in 2013, listing her job as “Bookworm” on her LinkedIn page. She listed her place of business as “My Couch.”
She was reading mysteries, science fiction and romance books, Cynthia wrote on LinkedIn. She was also cooking a lot and had become “very fond of preserves and pickles.” She said she enjoyed flying in her husband’s plane and babysitting her granddaughters “with the assistance of Busch Gardens and our local pool.”
“I can highly recommend this company!!” Cynthia quipped about her new retiree life. “It is well worth setting this as a life goal. Just don’t neglect your family while you are trying to reach it!!!!!”
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‘An excellent volunteer’
For the past four years, Cynthia worked as a volunteer at the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank, a Hampton organization that collects and distributes food for the needy.
Donna Tighe, the Food Bank’s director of development, said Cynthia began volunteering there in April 2020, just after the pandemic struck. She brought in home-made face-masks for staff and volunteers, then began helping out herself.
“She was an excellent volunteer and did so many different things for us,” Tighe said. “She was so flexible and just wanted to be there to help. She just showed up for whatever we needed, and we put her to work.”
Cynthia logged 335 volunteer hours with the Food Bank since early 2020, including sorting and packing canned goods, distributing food and handling data entry at fundraising events.
But in March, Cynthia told the Food Bank that she needed to take a break for personal reasons, but said she’d be back.
“We were just so heartbroken when we heard the sad news,” Tighe said of the May 26 shooting. “We just really miss her.”
“When I found out the news of what happened, it was a shock to me, honestly,” said Jesse Jones III, 32, who grew up two doors down from the Seyfferts. “In today’s world, you just never know.”
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
