TUSCARAWAS COUNTY, Ohio — Detectives with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office are analyzing evidence, including cell phones, after an apparent murder-suicide just moments before a graduation party.
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The sheriff’s office identified the husband and wife who died as 64-year-old Robert Houston and 53-year-old April Houston.
Sheriff Orvis Campbell called the situation horrific and appeared to have come out of nowhere.
It happened around 1:30 p.m. Sunday at a home on Gordon Road NW in Dover Township.
The 911 call is disturbing to hear as a dispatcher talks with the girlfriend of one of the couple’s three sons.
Campbell said the family was preparing to host a graduation party at the home for the 18-year-old son when Robert called for his wife, April, to come help him at the house.
“She went inside to see what he needed for help and that’s when the shots happened,” Campbell said.
The caller told the dispatcher she heard four gunshots and they backed away out of fear. But then found the couple in a bedroom.
Robert was found dead; Campbell said April showed minor signs of life, but after CPR, she died at the hospital.
“You would expect something immediate to have just happened like that moment almost in a heat of anger or heat of passion, we don’t have that,” Campbell said.
One question, he said, is why at that point? Just as guests were to arrive for the party.
Campbell said they’re trying their best to find answers for the three sons, ages 24, 21 and 18 and a sister who lives in a different county.
“What we do know is the father had been experiencing some medical health problems, and he had just been released from the hospital," Campbell said.
But he said the medical issues were not life-threatening, and he was up and moving around. As for their relationship, Campbell said they experienced a minor marital strain in their 30 years of marriage, but nothing recent had occurred. He said it wasn’t a house known to his office.
During the investigation, a note was discovered in the living room.
“It was basically just a goodbye note telling the family that he loved them,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he spoke with Dover schools and Buckeye Career Center, where the graduate attended, about sending resources to the family. Detectives will download and analyze data from two cell phones, but evidence right now points to a murder-suicide.
“These kids were all devastated. I guess any silver lining would be the boys I got to meet at the scene all seem pretty close so they were immediately coming together,” Campbell said.
