News
Couple Dead In Murder, Suicide
By: Marika Lee | For The Athens Messenger
Posted on:
The deaths of an Orrville couple Saturday have been ruled a murder-suicide, according to Hocking County authorities.
Tammy and Kevin Buckley died Saturday night in their home at 9927 Route 93N in the village of Orrville, south of New Straitsville.
Hocking County Coroner David Cummin said Tammy Buckley had earlier that day voiced concerns to a relative, who lived next door, that her husband, Kevin, was threatening her.
Cummin said Tammy, 49, was shot in the head with a shotgun by her husband at 8:45 p.m. Saturday. She died instantly.
Kevin, 47, then called a friend and told him what he had done before shooting himself through the mouth with the shotgun at about 9 p.m.
The friend called the Lancaster Police Department, which then transferred the call to the Perry County Sheriff’s Office. Orrville is located near the Perry County line.
The Hocking County Sheriff's Office received a call at about 9:03 p.m. Saturday night from Perry County authorities asking for assistance with a possible homicide and barricade situation.
Both were dead when law enforcement arrived. The bodies were discovered by the Logan-Hocking Special Response Team when members entered the house.
The couple had been married 19 years. Kevin had been laid off from Amanda Bent Bolt Co. in Logan, and Tammy was a pharmacy technician at the Logan Walmart, Cummin said.
A person at the scene who knew the Buckleys and asked not to be identified said the couple had a troubled marriage and at one point had separated, but got back together three years ago.
Cummin said the two did not have a physical struggle before the shooting, but did have some sort of argument.
Cummin said he and members of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation arrived on scene at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and left at about 4:30 a.m.
The bodies were transported to the morgue at Hocking Valley Community Hospital, and were to be taken later to Franklin County for autopsies, Cummin said.