Couple found dead in alleged murder-suicide

Posted: July 8, 2009 11:12 AM

Updated: July 8, 2009 04:31 PM

By Elizabeth Gentle - bio | email
Posted by Dana Franks - email

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - A couple who were described as volatile by neighbors were both found dead Wednesday morning in what's been described as a murder-suicide scenario.

It happened just after 8 a.m. at Stone Brook Apartments off Boxwood Drive in north Huntsville, where investigators said Danny Ray Seals, 54, and Sandra Smith, 54, got into a heated argument. The next thing neigbors heard was gunfire.

Officers were dispatched after a call of shots being fired. Seals and Smith were both found dead -- Seals on the front steps of the unit and Smith just a few feet away inside the apartment.

Crime scene investigators tagged evidence and snapped photos while officers kept distraught family members behind the yellow crime scene tape.

Rodriquez Jones was a neighbor who heard the gunfire.

"All we know is we heard four shots," he said. "We heard four shots and came around the corner we saw the lady laying on the porch."

Investigators said Seals and Smith had recently moved back to huntsville from new orleans.

"We don't know if there is a domestic relationship or they live together," said Huntsville Police Sgt. James Allen. "That's what we are trying to sort out now."

Investigators believe Seals pulled a gun and shot and killed Smith on the front steps during the argument, then turned the weapon on himself.

Jones said the incident was a shockk, but it's not the first time something tragic has happened at the apartments.

"That's a murder, this is murder," he said. "Somebody done got killed. They're going to make it look like there are bad drugs out here, murder out here. Man, it makes it real bad."

Natalia Clayton lives near the crime scene and knew one of the victims.

"The lady was really nice," Clayton said. "She never really bothered anybody. She was quiet. She went to church and stuff."

Neighbors said Seals and Smith had a volatile past and argued often.

"I heard them arguing last night and the police got called," Clayton said.

Clayton watched officers break up the fight and send Seals away. But he came back Wednesday morning with a loaded gun, ending Smith's life then taking his own.

"Yeah, it was really shocking," Clayton said. "I'm shocked. My hands are shaking."