Murder-Suicide: Elderly Couple With Health & Financial Woes

NORTH BAY, CA – An elderly couple with health and financial challenges was found dead from gunshot wounds Wednesday in a camper trailer at a campground on the Sonoma County Coast, sheriff's officials said.

Robert Wade, 71, shot 72-year-old Maria Wade, their dog then himself in the trailer at the Ocean Cove Campground in a remote area of Sonoma County just north of Timber Cove, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

Deputies responded to the murder-suicide around 5:10 a.m. after Robert called his daughter to report he shot Maria, Crum said. Deputies found the couple and the dog dead when they arrived around 5:50 a.m. A handgun was recovered at the scene, Crum said.

The investigation revealed deputies went to the camper trailer on Feb. 25 and found Maria, who has stage 4 cancer, suicidal and holding a gun to her head, Crum said. She was taken for a mental health evaluation, and deputies removed two handguns from the trailer, Crum said.

The couple had extensive medical and financial issues that were getting worse, Crum said. Their daughter, who was not in town at the time of the murder-suicide, was interviewed and her cooperation was instrumental in determining what happened, Crum said.

Everyone who sheriff's detectives spoke to also corroborated what the sheriff's office believed was a murder-suicide, Crum said. Anyone with further information about the deaths is asked to call the sheriff's office's violent crimes unit at (707) 565-2185.

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--Bay City News