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Allegations of sexual abuse trailed John Capparelli, a former priest, for decades, resurfacing in the years after the Archdiocese of Newark removed him from ministry. There were the lawsuits from accusers, and last month his name was included on a list published by the Roman Catholic Church in New Jersey that identified priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

On Saturday, Mr. Capparelli was found fatally shot in his home in Nevada, and the authorities there said that his death was being investigated as a homicide.

The police said that officers found Mr. Capparelli’s body in his kitchen after being sent to do a wellness check at his home in Henderson, Nev., a city of 300,000 people just outside Las Vegas, where he has lived for the past few years.

A representative for the Clark County coroner’s office said on Tuesday that Mr. Capparelli, 70, had a single gunshot wound to the neck and that the medical examiner had ruled his death a homicide.