Fellow Sailor Ran Over Navy Dentist's Murderer With SUV: Police

LAKE FOREST, IL — The Kentucky man who murdered a Navy dentist he had previously dated was run over by a witness' SUV moments after fatally shooting himself in the head, according to police and the Lake County Coroner.

Lt. Claire VanLandingham, 27, moved to Lake Forest last year as she took a job at the Lovell Medical Center in North Chicago.

Around 6:15 a.m. on Jan. 3, police said she was heading off to work from her apartment in the 200 block of East Deerpath Road.

A fellow active duty sailor, a 37-year-old Highland Park man, had arrived and was waiting to pick her up in a Land Rover Discovery in the parking lot, police said.

In the snowy early morning hours, the man's headlights illuminated VanLandingham as she was approached by her killer, 33-year-old Ryan Zike, a man who had lived with her in the apartment briefly last year, according to police.

Zike had been hired as a naturalist by the Park District of Highland Park but resigned after about a month, according to the district.

Police said moved back to live with his family in Louisville, Kentucky after the two broke up last October.

But the day before the shooting, Zike had driven back to Illinois with two guns and stayed overnight at an undetermined location, according to the preliminary findings of the investigation. He appears to have been lying in wait for VanLandingham outside her apartment.

The Highland Park sailor watched as the two had a brief conversation in the parking lot, police said. He saw Zike pull out a semiautomatic pistol and shoot VanLandingham several times.

VanLandingham, a Terre Haute, Indiana native who hoped to one day operate a non-profit dental clinic, was taken to Lake Forest Hospital and pronounced dead.

After witnessing the murder, the 37-year-old behind the wheel of the Land Rover told investigators he thought Zike was about to turn the gun on him. He decided to ram Zike with the vehicle to avoid being shot.

"He felt the guy was going to turn the gun on him," said Lake Forest Deputy Chief Rob Copeland, who said the witness was just a couple car lengths away at the time of the shooting.

After hitting Zike with the Discovery, VanLandingham's co-worker tried to administer first-aid on her, police said. He ran to the nearby Dunkin' Donuts to ask staff and patrons to call 911.

Based on the evidence at the scene and the preliminary findings of the investigation, Zike shot himself in the head moments before he was struck by the Land Rover. Copeland said the SUV ended up also hitting an unoccupied car in the lot.

Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper said Zike did not sustain major trauma from being struck by the SUV.

Police said another handgun and a small knife were also found with the body of Zike, who had a valid Kentucky concealed carry gun permit.

"There's no question that Zike shot and killed her, and then he shot and killed himself," Copeland said.

Related:

» Slain Lake Forest Navy Dentist Made Anti-Domestic Violence Video
» Navy Dentist Murdered By Naturalist Ex In Lake Forest: Coroner
» Downtown Lake Forest Shooting: 2 Dead, 'Unusual Scene'

_{Video of the scene from news helicopters showed the witness' Land Rover after it rammed Zike and a parked car (WGN)}

_{Top photo: A Lake Forest police officer guards the parking lot behind Claire VanLandingham's apartment building in the 200 block of East Deerpath Road | Jonah Meadows}