Ohio murder-suicide investigation of family found dead

Defiance Co Sheriff investigating suspected triple murder, suicide
Toledo News
By Holly Roney
Updated: Feb 07, 2014

There's no word yet on a motive in the killings, but the Sheriff's office says Garza, Sr. was a veteran of the Vietnam War and had been battling health issues.

DEFIANCE COUNTY, OH (Toledo News Now)
The Defiance County Sheriff's Office is investigating what is believed to be a triple murder/suicide near Defiance.

Four people were discovered in their home on Bowman Road by a family member checking on their welfare, according to the sheriff's office. The four had last been seen Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 5.

The sheriff's office says it is believed that Robert Garza, Sr., murdered his wife Christine, daughter Zoila Garza and granddaughter Rebecca Garza before taking his own life.
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UPDATE
Friend: Ohio family killing suspect was disabled

Bodies of two children and adult found at Fort Hood

UPDATE
Fort Hood deaths likely a murder suicide
Army Times
Jan. 23, 2014

The man and two children who were found dead Tuesday in an on-post residence at Fort Hood, Texas, are believed to have died in a murder-suicide, officials said Wednesday.

Special agents from U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command continue to investigate the deaths, but “early indications are the deaths are possibly the result of a tragic murder-suicide involving the husband and the two children,” according to a statement from CID.

The man, who was 43, was married to a soldier who had recently returned from an overseas deployment, according to CID.
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3 bodies, two of them children, found at Foot Hood, military says
By CNN Staff
updated 2:51 PM EST, Tue January 21, 2014

(CNN) -- The bodies of three people, two of them children, were discovered at an on-base residence in Fort Hood, Texas, the Army said in a news release.

The bodies -- one man and two children -- were found about 8:15 a.m. ET, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command has launched a probe, according to the release.
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Can't CNN get a story this serious right?
"Foot Hood"

Check back later. I'll see if I can find updates someplace else.

UPDATE This is from NBC and posted an hour earlier than CNN

Man, Two Kids Found Dead at Fort Hood Residence
By Frank Heinz
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2014
Updated 1:41 PM CST

A man and two children have been found dead inside a Fort Hood residence, officials with the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office says.

On Tuesday afternoon, officials said the bodies of three military dependents were discovered at about 7:15 a.m. inside an on-post residence.

At this time, no further information about the case is being released until next of kin have been notified.

NBC agrees with Killeen Daily Herald

One man and two children were found dead at 7:15 a.m. today in an on-post residence, according to Fort Hood officials.

All three were Army dependents, and it's unclear what caused the deaths. Special Agents from U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating.

Murder-suicide leaves Fayetteville police searching for answers

Murder-suicide leaves Fayetteville police searching for answers
WRAL News
September 28, 2013


FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A former Fort Bragg soldier and father of two who police say fatally shot two of his neighbors and their dog Saturday night before turning the gun on himself suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, his wife said Sunday.

"I feel that it was just eating him alive," Danica Thomas, told WRAL News. "I am truly and deeply sorry for the families that suffer because of this."

Lt. Todd Joyce of the Fayetteville Police Department said police responded to 7905 Gaza Court in the Farmington subdivision in Fayetteville around 8:15 p.m.

Saturday after Thomas called 911 asking for help because her husband, Allen Thomas, was in their front yard firing a handgun.

While responding to the call, police were notified about a nearby shooting at 6713 Potters Court, where they found Ann Awaldt, 68, dead and her husband, Todd Awaldt, 48, seriously injured.

He was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he later died.

About a half-mile away at Christina Street and Hoke Loop Road, investigators later found Allen Thomas, 29, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"It is a random act," Joyce said. "Detectives believe the suspect did not know the victims."
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Fort Gordon Captain victim in murder-suicide

Murder victim was Army Reserve captain
The Augusta Chronicle
From staff reports
Monday, July 1, 2013

Capt. Angela Lee was signal officer in the Army Reserve assigned to the 15th Regimental Signal Brigade, the statement said. She worked as an operations officer for satellite communications supporting training at Fort Gordon.

Lee was killed by her by her husband, Timothy Lee, during an argument Sunday morning, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. Timothy Lee then turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

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Afghanistan Veteran-Police Officer killed two before himself in Alabama

Dallas County DA: Selma Police officer who fatally shot ex-girlfriend, her stepfather had PTSD
AL.com
By Erin Edgemon
June 04, 2013

SELMA, Alabama -- Selma Police Chief William Riley is remaining mum on the mental state of one of his police officers who apparently fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and her stepfather before turning the gun on himself on Sunday afternoon.

Riley declined to speak about the motives of Dwight Moorer, who served as a Selma police officer for five years, and his possible mental state the days leading up to the shootings out of respect for the families involved.

Moorer, 28, killed Keoshia L. Hill, also 28, and her 59-year-old stepfather, Bill Jackson, before turning the gun on himself.

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson isn’t remaining as quiet.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Jackson states Moorer appeared to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from his tours to Iraq with the Army. Moorer remained in the Army Reserves.

"When he went to Afghanistan he saw some horrific things," Jackson told the AP. "With the stress of being a police officer and the tremendous stress of some relationships, it just all came together at the same time."
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Victim's family wants body of killer removed from honored burial place

Victim's family wants Army vet's body exhumed, moved from military cemetery
May. 31, 2013
By Dan McFeely
The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Just weeks after his daughter-in-law was brutally gunned down during a shooting spree, Frank Koehl learned that her killer, who had committed suicide, was buried with military honors.

The remains of Michael LeShawn Anderson are resting beside other military veterans — many of them decorated heroes — at Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta, Mich.

That’s a violation of federal law, and as the first anniversary of the tragic killing arrives Thursday, Koehl is on a mission to have Anderson’s remains dug up and removed.

“It was just a total insult,” said Koehl. “It just rips at your heart.”

The shooting spree shocked Indianapolis and residents of an apartment complex on the northeast side of the city where the shooting took place. Anderson shot four people and a dog that day before shooting himself. There was no known motive, no evidence of drugs in his system and no signs that he was suffering from any mental disorder.

While family members were still in shock over the sudden loss of Alicia Koehl, 45, a wife and mother of two who was shot 13 times and bled to death in her office, her killer’s body had been claimed by his family members and taken back to his hometown of Albion, Mich.
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Fort Benning Captain and fiancee killed in murder-suicide

Army Captain, fiancee killed in murder-suicide identified
Ledger Enquirer
Published: February 6, 2013
By BEN WRIGHT

A Fort Benning soldier accused of shooting his girlfriend at American Storage Rental Spaces before turning the gun on himself Tuesday had been in the military more than four years and never deployed, a post spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Authorities identified the Army captain as Gonzalo Raphael Garcia, 38, of California and the woman as Victoria Andrea Jacquez, 27, of Las Cruces, N.M. Both died of a gunshot wound to the head in what police called a murder-suicide at 3560 Victory Drive.

Elsie Jackson, a public affairs spokeswoman, said Garcia entered the military in November 2008.

In October 2012, he was assigned to the 199th Infantry Regiment, a training unit at Fort Benning. His last duty station was at Fort Bliss, Texas, she said.

Garcia was a graduate of the Airborne School at Fort Benning but was never deployed.

Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said the soldier and the woman were engaged. She was wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring on her finger. "She was here to see him," he said. "Her family didn't know she was here."
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NCIS respond to murder-suicide

Homicide-suicide under investigation
By TABITHA CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Authorities are investigating what they say is a homicide-suicide discovered in the New River area of Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon.

Officers with the Jacksonville Police Department found two bodies in the home at 1405 Hargett St. after receiving a call at 12:36 p.m. Tuesday from a family member concerned about the welfare of a resident of the home, according to JPD. They received no response at the home and found the bodies upon entering.

Police have not indicated the respective causes of death nor when the deaths occurred. The names are being withheld pending notification of the family members, JPD stated in a press release.

Military affiliation, likewise, has not been confirmed. However, both vehicles at the residence bore red Camp Lejeune base decals, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is involved in the investigation. read more here

Wisconsin Spa Shooting: Alleged Ex Marine Guman Kills 4 Including Wife, Self

Wisconsin Spa Shooting: Alleged Ex Marine Guman Kills 4 Including Wife, Self
ABC News Video

New Jersey Pathmark Killings "everyone in the store was a target"

UPDATE September 1, 2012 New Jersey supermarket shooter tweeted before killing

Ex-Marine Suspected in New Jersey Pathmark Killings
By KEVIN DOLAK
Aug. 31, 2012

Officials investigate the scene of a shooting at a Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, N.J., Aug. 31, 2012. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

The man suspected of killing two people early this morning at an Old Bridge, N.J., grocery store before shooting himself to death is a 23-year-old former Marine who worked at the grocery store for two weeks, according to the town's mayor.

The suspect left the Old Bridge shopping plaza at about 4 a.m. and returned to a Pathmark grocery store, having changed into camouflage clothing, Mayor Owen Henry said today. He was armed with an AK-47 and an automatic handgun when he entered the store, allegedly firing his weapon.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the victims were "not specifically targeted; everyone in the store was a target."

"Two of the employees were shot and killed, the others were able to hide and escape," Kaplan said. There were two weapons that were found -- one was an AK-47 and there were multiple magazines that were found in the store and there was also a handgun."
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Lives of Fort Bragg battalion commander Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale, soldier Ricky Elder

Lives of Fort Bragg battalion commander Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale, soldier Ricky Elder followed vastly different paths before ending together in tragedy
By Greg Barnes and Drew Brooks
Staff writers
Fayobserver.com
Jul 15, 2012

Photo by Dave McDermandof The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Jana Bowman is among hundreds who turned out for a ceremony honoring Lt. Col. Roy Lin Tisdale in Bryan, Texas.

By age 12, Roy Tisdale was helping tend livestock on his family's ranch, demonstrating the character that would one day propel him to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army.

At that same age, Ricky Elder was being charged with felony burglary, the first in a series of juvenile crimes before Elder graduated from high school in 2004 and joined the Army almost immediately afterward.

Six years later, Elder and Tisdale deployed together to Afghanistan with the 525th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade.

Little is publicly known about the relationship Elder and his commander shared in Afghanistan, other than that they knew each other. What is known is that after the brigade's return from Afghanistan in July of last year, Elder was charged with stealing a $1,700 tool kit from a motor pool. He was facing court-martial and dishonorable discharge from the Army if convicted.

But that doesn't explain his actions on the blistering hot afternoon of June 28. On that day, on a field in a historic district of Fort Bragg, Elder repeatedly shot the 42-year-old Tisdale during a safety briefing before the July 4 holiday weekend. Elder, who was 27, then took his own life, leaving the families and friends of both soldiers asking the same question:

Why?

A week after his death, the funeral procession carrying Tisdale's body wound its way from Central Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas, to the Aggie Field of Honor on the far side of College Station, the home of Texas A and M.

Along the way, dozens of college students lined the grassy shoulders, waving flags. A group of construction workers stopped working on a new post office to line up and pay their respects, their helmets covering their hearts.

The funeral for Ricky Elder stands in stark contrast to the one for Tisdale. No large crowd, no mourners lining the streets; only a few members of the Patriot Guard Riders standing at the ready in case of trouble.

But judging from social network sites, Elder had a lot of friends who loved him.

One, a former soldier who asked not to be named because his brother is in the Army, said Elder was great with his children.

The friend said he and Elder once volunteered together at an elementary school on Fort Benning, Ga., tutoring children in math and reading. They also earned their expert infantryman badges together.

Friends said Elder was proud of his Army commendations, especially the Ranger tab. Last year, only 42 percent of soldiers who enrolled in Ranger School successfully completed the course.

"I think he was a good guy, overall. I think he just made a bad choice," the friend said.

red more here

Camp Lejeune Marine murdered posted on Facebook

Murder-suicide appears to be result of lover's triangle
Posted: Jun 01, 2012
By: WECT Staff

Police in Jacksonville are investigating a murder-suicide that happened late Thursday night. (Source: WITN)

ONSLOW COUNTY, NC (WITN/WECT) – Police in Jacksonville are investigating a murder-suicide that happened late Thursday night. Apparently, it was the result of a lover's triangle. The victim may have posted a warning on Facebook that something was about to happen.

WITN is reporting Jason Eimer, 30 of Jacksonville, and Christopher Apger, a Marine from Camp Lejeune, were killed in the incident.

According to WITN, police received a call just before midnight. Several officers responded and had a "significant presence at the New River Harley-Davidson dealership" in Jacksonville.
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Gilroy tragedy an extreme example of PTSD

Gilroy tragedy an extreme example of PTSD

Kevin Fagan

Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle

Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle
Mourners hold a moment of silence at a memorial for Lucero Gutierrez, 11, on Thursday, March 15, 2012 in Gilroy, Calif. Guitierrez was apparently shot and killed by her brother Abel Gutierrez, an Iraq war veteran, who then shot himself on Wednesday.

Post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans of the nation's wars of the past decade has skyrocketed, experts say - and there is no worse result than what happened in Gilroy this week, when an Iraq war veteran allegedly killed his young sister, himself and probably their mother.

Textbook warning signs of PTSD had been apparent for months with former Army Spec. Abel Gutierrez. But although police, veterans counselors and Gutierrez's family tried to help him, in the end it was not enough.

Gutierrez was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait twice between 2005 and 2010, and relatives told police that after he came home from the second tour he was not the same. He woke screaming at imaginary enemies and took to swearing at people in the street and packing pistols, they said.
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Iraq veteran likely shot mother

Iraq War veteran likely shot mother before killing sister then self

UPDATE March 22, 2012
Gilroy missing mom of Iraq war veteran in murder-suicide found dead

UPDATE
Search finds no trace of Iraq vet's missing mother

Jill Tucker

Sunday, March 18, 2012
Gilroy -- Search-and-rescue crews combed 30 miles of unincorporated Santa Clara County Saturday looking unsuccessfully for a missing Gilroy woman police believe was likely killed by her son, an Iraqi war veteran.

Martha Gutierrez, 52, has not been seen since Tuesday, a day before authorities found the bodies of her son Abel Gutierrez and her 11-year-old daughter Lucero Gutierrez in the family's Gilroy apartment.

Police believe the 27-year-old man shot his sister and then himself.
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Gilroy police: Iraq War veteran likely shot mother in Mustang before killing sister then self

By Lisa Fernandez
Posted: 03/16/2012

The Iraq War veteran who killed his 11-year-old sister and then turned the gun on himself, also shot his mother in his green Mustang, based on evidence found in the car, Gilroy police reported Friday.

By noon, Martha Gutierrez, 52, had not been found. While the investigation is ongoing, police said it is likely her son, 27-year-old Abel Gutierrez shot her sometime after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, when she was last seen, and left her for dead.

Sgt. Chad Gallacinao said he was still hoping that she still may be alive and urged anyone with information to call police.

Police said the son's 2000 Ford Mustang, recovered at the family's home on Kern Avenue, had signs of a "violent assault," and that a gun had been fired in it. Martha Gutierrez's cell phone was found in the car.

"She has not showed up to work," said Grant Cornia, Martha Gutierrez's supervisor at the Headstart Nursery in Gilroy, where she had worked for at least a decade in the greenhouses. The last day he saw her was Tuesday. "This is definitely a shock to everyone. It's hit a lot of people really hard."

On Wednesday, at 9 p.m., police rushed to the family's apartment complex after a roommate thought something might be wrong; they had told the department earlier that they thought Abel Gutierrez, an award-winning National Guard infantryman, had been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since his return from Iraq two years ago.
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Iraq war veteran killed sister then himself

Air Force couple killed in murder-suicide

Military couple killed in murder-suicide

Ed Doney Reporting
KFOR-TV
March 12, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City police say two people who were found deceased in a Northwest Oklahoma City home Saturday night are part of a murder-suicide. They say 24-year-old Baanh Dinh shot and killed his ex-wife, 24-year-old Priscilla Dinh-Kittelson, then turned the gun on himself.

Both were active members of the Air Force and had been stationed at Tinker Air Force base the last two years.


Baanh was a jet engine mechanic and Priscilla worked in maintenance management.

In November, police responded to a domestic call at their house the day before Priscilla filed for divorce.

This murder-suicide happened 17 days after their divorce was finalized.

While the motive for the murder-suicide is unclear, some say this tragedy is following an alarming trend of military suicides.

"We've just got to convince them that there is a tomorrow and things will be better," Rita Aragon said, a retired Air Force Major General and Oklahoma Secretary Of Military and Veterans Affairs.
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Florida man commits suicide at gun range, wife found dead at home

Florida man commits suicide at gun range, wife found dead at home
Published February 12, 2012
NewsCore
TAMARAC, Fla. – Police in southern Florida were investigating Sunday after a man killed himself at a gun range and his wife was found dead at their home.

The two deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dani Moschella said, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The 52-year-old man, who was not identified, went to the Arizona Shooting Range in Lauderdale Lakes at around 10:20am Saturday. He rented a gun, went to the target practice area, and then shot himself in the head, according to Moschella.
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Four dead - two of them children - in SE Fresno murder-suicide

Four dead - two of them children - in SE Fresno murder-suicide
By BoNhia Lee - The Fresno Bee
Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 | 12:26 PM

2:42 p.m.: Four people are dead, including two children, in an early morning murder-suicide in southeast Fresno on Sunday, police said.

Fresno police were called to the Silver Lake Apartments on East Belmont Avenue, near Clovis Avenue, at 6:44 a.m. for a disturbance, said Capt. Dennis Bridges.

They found a man outside of an apartment bleeding from a stab wound. Then they heard a single gunshot inside the apartment.

When police entered, they found a woman in her 20s, who they believe is the stabbing victim's wife, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Their two children, an 18-month-old girl and a 3-year-old boy also died of gunshot wounds.
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A man in his 20s or 30s was found shot to death in the kitchen. Police did not reveal his relation to the family.

Mother Of Slain Soldier Kills Adopted Granddaughter, Herself

Mother Of Slain Soldier Kills Adopted Granddaughter, Herself
The mother of a soldier who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq in 2005 killed the girl and herself, writing in a suicide note that she didn’t want to leave the 7-year-old behind.

CONWAY, Ark. (January 9, 2012)--An Arkansas woman who adopted her granddaughter after her son was killed in Iraq stabbed the 7-year-old girl and then set fire to their home in what authorities described as a murder-suicide.

Janice Robbins and her granddaughter Abby, who was stabbed once in the chest, both died in the fire Saturday, either of smoke inhalation or from thermal injuries, a coroner said.


Faulkner County, Ark., sheriff's spokesman Maj. Andy Shock said Janice Robbins left a suicide note in her pickup truck in which she said she didn’t want to leave the girl behind.
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Navy pilot killed self in San Diego murder-suicide

Navy pilot killed self in San Diego murder-suicide
By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press – 10 hours ago
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A New Year's Day shooting that left four people dead at a condominium near San Diego was a murder-suicide involving a 25-year-old Navy pilot who killed himself, officials said Wednesday.

John Robert Reeves shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, citing autopsy results.

Fellow Navy pilot David Reis, also 25, was killed by a gunshot wound to the torso, and his 24-year-old sister, Karen, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and chest, officials said. Matthew Saturley, 31, of Chula Vista was shot multiple times.

Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said there were no outstanding suspects in the case, and police have found no evidence indicating there was an exchange of gunfire, although he declined to say if Reeves was the shooter, explaining that "we don't have forensic evidence yet to say that definitively."

"We have no eyewitnesses to what happened inside the residence," Fraser told reporters. "We don't know what the motive was."

Reeves' family members could not immediately be reached for comment.

The unusual case rocked the Navy's elite, tight-knit aviation community, many of whom live on Coronado, a picturesque peninsular enclave of 24,000 people on San Diego Bay that recorded only one homicide in 2010 and is home to Naval Air Station North Island.

It takes years of training to get wings as a Navy pilot. Aviation students are selected after standing out among their Navy peers, and fighter jet pilots are considered to be top performers among pilots.

Reeves, of Prince Frederick, Md., and Reis, of Bakersfield, Calif., were both F/A-18 fighter pilots assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at nearby Miramar Air Station. Both men joined the Navy in 2008 at separate universities.
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2 Navy Pilots among dead

Navy police called in for murder-suicide investigation

2 Navy Pilots Among Dead in Murder, Suicide Pact

2 Navy Pilots Among Dead in Murder, Suicide Pact

January 03, 2012
Associated Press
by Amy Taxin
Two Navy pilots and the sister of one of them were among four people killed in an apparent New Years Day murder-suicide on the wealthy island of Coronado off the coast of San Diego, officials say.

The two F/A-18 pilots were in training at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the base said. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office initially posted on its website that the pilots were both 25-year-old males and that a third male among the dead was a 31-year-old resident of nearby Chula Vista.

The county office later took the information off the website, according to the Reuters news service.

Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday when responding to a call about shots being fired at the residence.

Though officials have yet to identify all the dead, the Navy confirmed for The Associated Press that David Reis, 25, of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and his sister Karen Reis, 24,were among the four.Their father, Tom Reis of Bakersfield, told AP that he didn’t know who else was living in the condo of the wealthy seaside community where his son was staying.

"He just had his first F/A-18 flight," Tom Reis said. "Oh man, he loved it."

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Navy police called in for murder-suicide investigation Monday, January 2, 2012