2 Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide Man Killed Estranged Girlfriend, Police Say

Related To Story Photo courtesy of Toledo Police Department

POSTED: 2:18 pm PDT July 22, 2009

UPDATED: 3:26 pm PDT July 22, 2009

SILETZ, Ore. -- A man killed his estranged girlfriend and then himself Tuesday in the western Oregon town of Siletz, police said.

Wayne Nelson, 45, and Julie McDugle, 27, were found dead outside a home on James Frank Road just before 3:30 p.m., said Detective Tom Harrison in a Toledo Police Department news release.

Toledo police said they determined Nelson shot his ex-fiancée multiple times and then shot himself once to commit suicide. The bodies were found just a few feet away from each other in the front yard.

McDugle and Nelson were engaged to be married until the engagement was broken off in June, officers said. McDugle showed up at the Siletz home on Tuesday to move some of her belongings out of the house, according to witnesses.

Police said they found a letter written by Nelson that was left at the scene. In the letter, he said he was sorry for the murder of McDugle and the pain it caused the family.

Detectives said they also found an e-mail sent by Nelson to his family in which Nelson said he "would not be able to recover from this one." The e-mail went on to say that he considered McDugle his "common law wife" and that "till death do us part is a maxim that he intended to uphold," according to the police department.

A 911 caller first alerted police of five gunshots being fired on Tuesday afternoon. During the 911 call, the emergency dispatcher then heard the gunshot that Nelson fired to kill himself, police said.