Boise, ID: Couple's death ruled a murder-suicide

Posted: Aug 11, 2009 10:27 PM

Boise, Idaho-- The death of an elderly couple in East Boise has been ruled a murder suicide by the Ada County Coroner's office. Boise Police were called to the house on arrowrock road after a family member called police to check on them. When police went to the home, they found 89 year old Mildred Shelley dead at the scene. Her husband, 90 year old Harold Bill Shelley was found with a gunshot wound to the head; he later died at a nearby hospital.

Police say - that they did find weapons at the scene - including a handgun. The coroner confirms that Mildred died from blunt force trauma to the head. Their neighbors say they seemed like a nice couple that kept to themselves. " They were very nice neighbors, stayed to themselves, the kind of neighbors you enjoy having," said Jack Logan. Another neighbor, Ralph Hansen says, "You have to be sympathetic to these folks they were really in bad shape. What can you do? "

Murder suicides are relatively common among the elderly, especially when a situation exists where a couple is both in deteriorating health. But, it's hard to tell if this is a trend that is on the increase in the United States, because there is no national database or tracking system that documents murder-suicide in the U.S.