A man and woman are dead following what authorities believe to be a murder-suicide Sunday afternoon at a home in Tuscarawas County.
The Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched just after 1:30 p.m. to a residence at 2011 Gordon Road NW after receiving a 911 call from a woman who was at the home helping prepare for a graduation party.
The caller told dispatchers she was inside the house when she heard gunshots. She reported that the man who lived in the home had shot his wife and then himself. The child for whom the party was being held lives at the home but was not there at the time. The party had not yet begun and was to take place several hundred yards away on the same property.
When deputies arrived, they found a 54-year-old man deceased on a bed and a 53-year-old woman on the floor nearby. Dover Fire personnel attempted life-saving measures on the woman, who was transported to Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital in Stark County, where she was later pronounced dead.
Detectives with the sheriff’s office, along with the agency’s crime scene technician and the Tuscarawas County Coroner’s Office, responded to the scene. Based on early evidence and witness statements, investigators believe the incident was a murder-suicide.
The Tuscarawas County Coroner will determine the cause and manner of death for the man. The Stark County Coroner’s Office will handle the woman’s autopsy since she was pronounced dead in Stark County.
The names of the deceased are being withheld until all family members have been notified. The investigation remains ongoing.
