No one knows what happened inside the home on Lakeview Circle, in Agawam, Mass., during the height of pandemic lockdowns — but neighbors wonder if something may have turned Jared Ravizza into a monster right out of a horror movie.
They said that Jared’s father, Jason, went through a “bizarre” transformation as well.
The 26-year-old allegedly went on a stabbing spree last weekend, knifing four young girls watching the movie “IF” at a theater outside Boston and another two people at a McDonald’s.
“Jared and Jason got very bizarre,” a next-door neighbor said of the accused stabber and his 57-year-old father. “Something drastic took place during Covid. I don’t know what happened inside the house.”
Ravizza looked like a clean-cut preppy in photos taken on Martha’s Vineyard just a few years ago.
But when he was arrested last Saturday night after the stabbing of the girls at a theater in suburban Braintree, Mass., Jared looked more like — as many online commenters opined — Buffalo Bill, the fictional serial killer with flowing blond locks from the 1991 film “Silence of the Lambs.”
Ravizza allegedly laughed as he stabbed the girls, ages 9 to 17. A witness to the McDonald’s attack said Ravizza had a “big expression” on his face and compared it to Jack Nicholson’s character in “The Shining.”
He’s also suspected of attacking his roommate Bruce Feldman, on May 25 although he has not yet been charged. The two shared a Deep River, Conn., vacation rental. Feldman was fatally stabbed to death along with two dogs that were in the house, at least one of which belonged to him.
The roommates were not thought to be in any kind of romantic relationship, neighbors said.
Ravizza and his psychologist father abruptly up and left their Agawam home two years ago, decamping for Martha’s Vineyard. They left behind Jared’s mother, Kim, who was reportedly battling cancer and had to rent out rooms after their departure, neighbors told The Post.
The younger Ravizza was arrested in April on Martha’s Vineyard for allegedly attacking his father. Jason claimed his son suffered a “mental break.”
What to know about Massachusetts stabbing spree suspect Jared Ravizza
- Jared Ravizza, 26, is suspected of going on a stabbing spree across Massachusetts and Connecticut on May 25, 2024.
- Ravizza allegedly laughed as he stabbed four girls at a Braintree movie theater before driving to Plymouth and allegedly attacking two people in a McDonald’s.
- A witness to the McDonald’s attack said Ravizza had a “big expression” on his face and compared it to Jack Nicholson’s character in “The Shining.”
- He is also suspected of murdering his 70-year-old roommate, Bruce Feldman, in the Deep River, Connecticut, house they shared.
- Ravizza was arrested in April on Martha’s Vineyard for allegedly attacking his father. Jason Ravizza claimed his son suffered a “mental break” before assaulting him and wrecking his office.
- He was apparently in the process of changing his look ahead of the attacks and had filed paperwork for a legal name change to Jared Love Jones last month.
- Locals told The Post that Ravizza is a “weirdo” who had an obsession with exercising and his looks. He had a dispute with two neighbors shortly before Feldman’s murder in which he allegedly threw a shovel through their window after they called the police on Feldman.
Jason told cops that his son had assaulted him and wrecked his office, according to records in Edgartown District Court. On the scene, an officer stated in the report, “[Jared] Ravizza began screaming that he hopes his father dies, and began frothing out the mouth as he spoke.”
Island residents told the Martha’s Vineyard Times that Jared reportedly had “several bizarre and hostile interactions” in public settings. He was known for his long blond hair, a penchant for wearing aviator sunglasses and frequent claims that he was a model in Los Angeles, the outlet reported.
Island residents, who all asked that their names not be used because of of fear for their safety, said Ravizza was quick to anger and often seemed unhinged. Two people were said to have contacted police about his behavior and concerns that he was capable of violence.
Three neighbors of the Ravizza family in Agawam told The Post that they saw a metamorphosis in both Jason and Jared during Covid. Indeed, Jared’s Instagram account shows a clean-cut, preppy looking young man in khakis, seersucker and dock shoes in 2018.
By 2022, he appeared to be an overly tanned, ultra-fit surfer dude — with long, seemingly bleached blond hair, fingernail polish, and feminine makeup and jewelry — using the “she” pronoun.
The Post spoke to three different neighbors who said that his father, who is seen with close-cropped brown hair in videos from a few years ago, started to look just like his son with the same long dyed blond hair and flashy teeth.
“Their appearance was like they should be living in California or Hawaii, not Massachusetts,” the neighbor, who did not want to give his name, told The Post.
“Eventually you couldn’t tell father and son apart from a distance,” that same neighbor recalled.
The father-son duo “were very close” and “huge into fitness” and would go on long walks and sunbathe together, another neighbor added.
Yet, last month, Ravizza filed paperwork in Massachusetts to legally change his name to Jared Love Jones, public records show.
Jason Ravizza returned home to his wife, Kim, as suddenly as he left about two weeks ago, neighbors in Agawam said.
“Jared’s a weirdo,” one of the three neighbors told The Post, adding that he and Jason are “different, that’s for sure.”
According to his own website, Jared Ravizza portrayed himself as a wealthy, globetrotting “serial entrepreneur,” artist, model and skier who was the CEO of “Ravizza Jones,” a “leading global digital marketing & social media management agency” with branches in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Manhattan, Greenwich, Palm Beach, Paris and Milan.
There’s no evidence of the Ravizza Jones company anywhere other than on Ravizza’s website, which is fronted by a photo of the harbor at Monaco. A gushing profile in Beverly Hills magazine described Ravizza as an international “serial entrepreneur and media mogul,” and “a man with an innate desire to bring out the best in other humans in the most beautiful way.”
An article in ThriveGlobal — a website founded by Arianna Huffington — described Jared three times as a “professional big mountain skier,” although there does not seem to be any other record of him as a pro skier.
A designer and model told The Post that she had an unsettling run-in with Ravizza at the Beverly Hills Hotel in April.
Alyona Shikhova, 30, was holding a photoshoot for her Ashik clothing brand on April 14 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, when, she said, Ravizza talked his way onto her shoot and began hitting on her — proposing almost immediately and suggesting they should have kids together.
“He said ‘I’m gonna be a good husband, you’re gonna be my wife,’” Shikhova said. “I think he liked me and he was used to getting what he wanted.”
She claimed that Ravizza started to brag about his wealth, showing her pictures of him and his father, with whom he said he had just been on a vacation in Hawaii. He also also showed off different houses he claimed to own around the world.
For his part, Jason Ravizza is listed as a licensed mental health counselor who has held positions as a counselor at Springfield, Mass., public schools as well as Crosspoint Clinical, a mental health counseling organization specializing in “faith-based care.”
A devout Christian, Jason also co-authored a 2011 book, “The Waging War Within: A Devotional for Winning the Daily War,” which focused on “the realm of spiritual warfare and the strategies to counter the attacks of Satan.” He has a small publishing company for religious books called Abba Father Media.
In a second, separate LinkedIn profile, he calls himself “president” of Ravizza Sports Psychology. Like his son, Jason has presented himself as a high-flying international success story.
In that profile, Jason claims to be “a highly trained performance & psychology consultant, training the minds of athletes & entrepreneurs, at the highest of levels for the past 35+ years. Jason is the President & Founder of Ravizza Sports Psychology, consulting both within the United States and globally. From London, over into the the eastern sea board on Martha’s Vineyard, to Los Angeles.”
Ravizza Sports Psychology does not appear to exist as a functioning entity.
Jason may or may not be related to the LA-based Dr. Ken Ravizza, who, until his death in 2018 at 70, was considered one of the leading sports psychologists in the nation. Dr. Ravizza was described as a “guru of sorts for dozens of major league baseball players.”
Jason left a note of condolence on Dr. Ravizza’s obituary, referring to him as his “uncle.”
Dr. Ravizza’s website includes a disclaimer reading “The Ravizza family does not endorse any use of the Ravizza name for sport psychology or social media services. Anyone using the Ravizza name for these services is not affiliated with Ken Ravizza.”
Dr. Ravizza’s widow, Clare, did not return calls from The Post.
Tuesday, Jared Ravizza pleaded not guilty in Plymouth District Court to two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder, and other charges and was ordered to be held for a mental health evaluation.
He is in custody at Bridgewater State Hospital, a medium-security facility for male patients that is surrounded by high fences and multiple coils of barbed wire.
Neither he nor his father were reachable for comment.
