Lauren Semanchik feared NJ trooper ex-beau before murder

Slain veterinarian Lauren Semanchik feared for her life and even threatened to get a restraining order against New Jersey state trooper Ricardo Santos nearly a year before the deranged ex-boyfriend killed her in a sickening murder-suicide, text messages show.

The series of texts from October and viewed by The Post paint an ugly picture of Santos’ incessant need to harangue his ex-girlfriend, 33, after they called it quits the previous month — as Semanchik’s loved ones this week described his behavior akin to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

“I mean it would be one message of him telling her how amazing she is, and then the next calling her an evil manipulator and liar and how could you do this to such a nice guy. I would read it and I would be cackling how he thought he sounded sane,” younger sibling Allison Semanchik, 28, told The Post.

“Even though it looked like a toddler wrote the messages, still the malice that came through was entirely disturbing,” she added.

The stomach-turning shooting that also claimed Lauren Semanshik’s new beau, Tyler Webb, 29, Friday has led to questions about Santos’ mental stability even as he was tasked with protecting dignitaries, including at one time Gov. Phil Murphy.

The exchange of messages appear to show the pair arguing over a guy Lauren Semanchik was briefly in contact with after the break-up and how Santos found out about it, including if he looked through her Facebook account or phone.

Lauren Semanchik also accused the state police lieutenant of bugging part of her Franklin Township home, heightening her fear of the former beau, 45, even as he denied that and claimed a mutual friend filled him in about her texting the other guy she never met up with.

“I FEEL THREATENED,” she wrote in one message to Santos and then said in another she was scared because she found water in the gas tank of her car.

“I am done communicating with you,” she ultimately said as Santos persisted.

“If you continue to either reach out to me or invade my privacy in any way, I will be getting a restraining order.”

Lauren Semanchik only inquired about a restraining order months later in May of this year, but didn’t end up getting one after she didn’t hear back from authorities, her sisters said.

Santos sent texts that attempted to guilt Lauren Semanchik while also pleading her for to give the pair another shot.

“i am still trying with all my heart for every crum[b] you and your heart that you’d be willing to give me,” he said in one message while assailing her as a “narcissist young woman who is a bully and can’t own the fact you got caught being rotten to a good guy who always had your back.”

The pair’s courtship started in February 2024, and Santos presented himself as a “knight in shining armor,” sister Allison Semanchik recalled.

At the time, Lauren Semanchik was in a wheelchair after she broke both of her heels in an accident, but Santos was accommodating, showering her with flowers and treats.

“He was setting this stage that I was so worried about and unfortunately she was desperate to be treated well so she fed into it and she liked it,” Allison said.

“He gave us no real indication of how sick of a person he really was.”

As Lauren Semanchik recovered and regained her independence, issues doomed the relationship and led to Santos’ erratic behavior, she said.

Santos shot and killed Lauren Semanchik and Webb in front of her house before he drove 50 miles away and killed himself inside his white Mercedes, Hunterdon County prosecutors said.

The couple’s bodies were found the following day.

Allison Semanchik remembered her sibling, a vet at Long Valley Animal Hospital, as the “good sister” who “went into every interaction, every relationship, only ever trying to see the good in people.”

“She was the most compassionate, quirky, big disco ball of light,” she added. “All she wanted was to help animals and do whatever she could to make people more comfortable.”

Webb, who had only just started dating Lauren Semanchik, was also remembered as a loving friend.

“Tyler Webb was a loyal and loving friend for 28 years and will always be remembered as a hero,” said his pal Jessica Lynne Cox in an email to The Post.

“I ask for everyone to keep the Webb family in their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”