Murder Suicides

The fatal shooting of a husband and wife whose bodies were found on a San Pedro cliff appears to be a murder-suicide, L.A. police said Wednesday. Eduardo Rodriguez, 37, apparently shot his estranged wife, 32-year-old Monica Rodriguez of Long Beach, before turning the gun on himself, said Los Angeles Police Department Det. Jim Perkins. The weapon has not been found. The couple, who had been separated for about a year, had a 15-year-old daughter.

Five people who are believed to be part of the same family were found dead inside a home within a quiet neighborhood of San Francisco on Friday, authorities said. Although police have stopped short of calling the case a murder-suicide, they emphasized that the crime discovered on Howth Street was an isolated incident and that there are no suspects at large. "This does appear to be tragic incident that is specific to this address," San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said.

Peter Rosati walked into his kitchen Sunday afternoon and heard a series of sharp cracks outside -- then another, and another. On the third volley, a flock of ducks fluttered up noisily from the nearby country club pond. Then there was silence. "I figured someone was shooting at the ducks," he said, "trying to scare them away." Someone was shooting, but not at ducks. Next door in the Temecula cul-de-sac four people lay dead, with a fifth mortally wounded. She died a few hours later.

Five people were dead Wednesday morning after a gunman entered a Korean health spa in suburban Atlanta, got into an argument and then opened fire before turning the weapon on himself. Norcross police were continuing their investigation and were interviewing witnesses after the Tuesday night shooting, officials said. Capt. Brian Harr told the Associated Press the shootings appeared to be “domestic-related.” The incident began about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when the unidentified man walked into the Su Jung Health Sauna, about 15 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta in Gwinnett County, police said.

A man suspected of decapitating a Cal State Los Angeles professor at her Pasadena home and then apparently committing suicide was identified Tuesday as a boyfriend and former student at the university. By the time the body of Glenda Vittimberga, 36, was found Monday, Mark Guerro, 38, had stripped naked and walked into the path of a big rig on Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass, Pasadena police said.

A revolver used in a San Clemente murder-suicide this week belonged to the 67-year-old woman who died along with her daughter and her two young grandchildren, authorities said Wednesday. But detectives said they still don't know who fired the shots. The bodies of Elizabeth Fontaine, 38, her daughters Catherine, 4, and Julia, 2, and their grandmother, Bonnie Hoult, 67, were found Monday afternoon in a home in the upscale Talega community. Each had a single gunshot wound to the upper torso.

"Terminally Ill Man, 87, Kills 86-Year-Old Wife and Then Self." "Older Couple's Deaths Called Murder-Suicide." "Illness May Have Played a Role in Elderly Couple's Murder-Suicide." Headlines such as these give the words "till death do us part" ominous new meaning--and related statistics are even more alarming. Each year, more than 500 homicide-suicides, or 1,000 deaths, occur among people 55 years and older, and experts say those figures are increasing.

Bodies of a man and woman were found in a Moreno Valley home early Sunday, and police are investigating the case as a murder-suicide. Moreno Valley police responding to a call discovered the bodies of Lillian Granados, 34, and Jose Ocampo, 36. Police have not said how they died. Neighbors said the couple had a history of violence. Police were called to the home last year to investigate a report of Ocampo being violent, Riverside County sheriff's officials said.

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) and his staff were described as "devastated" Saturday after an apparent murder-suicide involving a senior aide to the legislator. Michael J. Robbins, 67, who was long active in Los Angeles political circles, apparently shot his wife, Kim Gehring, 48, and then himself after an argument at their Baldwin Hills home late Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

A couple who died in an apparent murder-suicide were identified Saturday by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. The bodies of Minnie V. Clifton, 69, and Jimmy Van Norman, 66, were found about 6:30 p.m. Friday after a report of shots fired in the 37300 block of 47th Street East, Deputy Bill Spear said. Clifton was on the floor with several gunshot wounds to her upper body, and Van Norman had a single gunshot wound to his upper torso, authorities said.

Charles and Judith Cox knew what the professional psychologists said -- that their grandsons would be safe with their father, that Josh Powell would present no threat during the boys' court-ordered visits. And yet. Could the professionals not see what the Coxes saw? That their daughter had been missing since 2009, and Powell was the leading person of interest in the case? What about the family stories that Powell, as a teenager, had smashed his sister's hamster to death, had threatened his mother with a knife?

A Navy pilot committed suicide after apparently killing three other people in a Coronado apartment during a night of New Year's Eve celebrating, according to information released Wednesday by San Diego County authorities. John Robert Reeves, 25, an F/A-18 Hornet pilot in training at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, killed himself with a gunshot to the head, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and medical examiner. The other three people killed — Navy pilot David Reis, 25; his sister, Karen, 24; and Matthew Christopher Saturley, 31, of Chula Vista — are listed as homicide victims.

An employee went on a shooting rampage at Southern California Edison offices in Irwindale on Friday, killing two co-workers and critically wounding two others before taking his own life. The man opened fire at the utility's information technology offices about 1:30 p.m. He methodically picked off co-workers, including some Edison supervisors, a source told The Times. "He told some people to leave and he was very deliberate about who he shot," the source said. "He did not like management.

The motive behind a puzzling murder-suicide on the campus of Virginia Tech was still unknown Friday, as investigators continued to piece together why Ross Truett Ashley, a 22-year-old student at a nearby college, killed a campus police officer and then himself. Ashley, a part-time student at Radford University, approached Officer Deriek W. Crouse, who had just stopped a motorist on campus, and shot him as he sat in his patrol car, said Corinne Geller, the Virginia State Police spokeswoman.

Under-21 drinking, which was legal in the U.S. decades ago, could have some lasting consequences. A study finds that drinking-age women who lived in states that allowed people under 21 to drink could be at higher risk for suicide and homicide later in life. Data from national cause-of-death files plus census surveys were examined for the study, released online today in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research . Reports contained information on more than 200,000 suicides and 130,000 homicides for people who turned 18 between 1967 and 1989.

Reporting from San Diego -- A distraught father killed his two teenage sons and set fire to the family home before killing himself, Chula Vista police said Tuesday. The dead were identified as Thomas Fuchs, 49, and his sons Sean, 15, and Kyle, 13. Police said notes left at the home indicated that Fuchs, a lawyer, committed the murder-suicide. He was reportedly upset about financial problems and a custody battle with his ex-wife, Maria Pe, also an attorney. Neighbors along the tree-lined street reported smoke coming from the home about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Tacoma has agreed to pay $3 million to the family of a woman who was shot to death by her police chief husband, and officials said the final package could total several million more. Lane and Patty Judson, the parents of Crystal Brame, said this month that they would drop their wrongful-death claim demand for $75 million and accept whatever the city's insurance would cover under conditions, including the establishment of a domestic violence counseling program for city employees.

Reporting from San Diego -- Authorities are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that left two adults and two children dead. The case began early Wednesday morning when a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer spotted a 2001 Hyundai blocking a lane of the 125 Freeway near Highway 54 in the Spring Valley area, authorities said. The body of a man was spotted in a ravine about 100 feet below, an apparent suicide. In an effort to contact the co-owner of the car, CHP officers went to a three-story townhome in Chula Vista, aided by local police.

Reporting from San Diego -- Police say they believe that a man and his wife who were found dead this week along with their two daughters at their Paradise Hills home planned their murder-suicide. Notes left in the home indicate that the mother and father were involved, said Lt. Ernest Herbert, although he declined to say what role each parent played. The notes discussed financial problems the family was having and also gave instructions about how funerals were to be planned and family possessions given away, Herbert said.