VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —A sad end for an elderly Volusia County couple who were found dead of an apparent murder-suicide at an assisted living facility in Orange City.
Police believe 75-year-old Gary Bowers arrived at the Savannah Court Assisted Living on Strawberry Oaks Drive at about 8 a.m. on Sunday to visit his 83-year-old wife, Mary, who had started living there two weeks ago.
Staff said they saw the couple having breakfast together and then return to the woman’s room.
Authorities said that’s when Bowers shot and killed his wife and then took his own life.
A nurse made the grim discovery and 911 call Sunday morning. The couple, married 45 years, was dead.
Bowers struggled with his decision to put his wife in the facility but could no longer care for her at home after she had a stroke, according to police.
The couple’s adult sons said they knew their father was frazzled caring for their ill stepmother, but they never thought he was so overwhelmed it would lead him to make this desperate decision.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130829/NEWS/130829409
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=119305606
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