WILMINGTON —The owner of Downtown Wilmington business the Cape Fear Serpentarium is dead after an apparent domestic dispute.
Police officers on Saturday responded to call of gunshots at the residence above the Serpentarium at 20 Orange Street. They found Larry Dean Ripa, 60, suffering from a severe gunshot wound Saturday afternoon. He died on the scene from the injury.
Officers with the Wilmington Police Department later arrested Regina Ripa, 40, for the murder of her husband. According to spokeswoman Cathryn Lindsay, police believe the killing was the result of a domestic dispute.
Dean Ripa, a Wilmington native, was a downtown fixture, known for the dramatic feedings at the Cape Fear Serpentarium, among other things.
Ripa founded the Serpentarium in 2001; the museum serves as a document for his larger-than-life herpetological adventures. He studied, captured and was bitten twelve times by some of the world’s deadliest snakes, including the bushmaster.
Regina Ripa is being held at the New Hanover County Jail under a no-bond status, Lindsay said.
