| A Las Vegas couple traveled
from their home in Nevada to
the Florida church where they
were married 40 years ago to
kill themselves in an apparent
suicide pact, police said.
A pastor found Bruce Wright
and his wife, Patricia Wright,
Sunday morning beneath an
oak tree behind Friendship
United Methodist Church in
Punta Gorda, about 80 miles
south of Tampa. Two guns
were nearby.
“He used a shotgun to his head
and she used the rifle,” said Bob
Carpenter, a spokesman for the
Charlotte County, Fla., sheriff’s
office. “It was in the head, too.
It was a pact.”
The husband, 60, was found
dead, and his wife, 57, died
Wednesday after several days
on life support at an area
hospital, Carpenter said.
The couple’s nephew, Daniel
Johnson, told the Las Vegas
Review-Journal that the
Wrights had no children and
rarely kept contact with family
members. Johnson said the
family doesn’t understand why
the couple killed themselves or
returned to the church where
they had wed.
“It was a romantic tragedy,”
said Johnson, 28. “Life started
for the two of them there, and
that’s officially where life
ended for them.”
The couple had been staying in
a local motel together, but it
was unclear when they arrived
in Florida, Carpenter told The
Associated Press. The couple
had attended high school in
Charlotte County and still had
family in the area, he said.
On Sunday, they apparently
parked their SUV with a Nevada
veteran license plate in the
church parking lot and walked
to the tree in the backyard,
Carpenter said.
The Rev. Mike Winchell, who
moved from Oklahoma to join
the church two weeks ago,
found the bodies when he
arrived to turn on the air
conditioning before Sunday
service, Carpenter said. Winchell
did not immediately return a call
seeking comment.
“The sheriff was trying to
console the pastor that this is
not really our community,”
Carpenter said. “It’s a heck of
thing to step into.”
Patricia Wright was most
recently employed at a hospital
and Bruce Wright was working
in sound production, Johnson
said.
Johnson said he last saw them
two years ago, when the couple
spoke of leaving Las Vegas and
moving to California. Johnson
did not believe they ever made
it there.
“We want to figure out what’s
going on and put people at
ease,” Johnson said. “But
honestly, all we have is a few
facts, and everything else is
speculation.”
Source: hosted.ap.org
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:'(
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