October 6, 2009 12:36 am
David Puckett sits outside the Fairview Beach house where his father, Jerry Puckett, lived. David and his sister say their father shot his former girlfriend and former company secretary, Rita Lund, and then killed himself Saturday night.
Jerry Puckett's daughter, Susan Puckett, says her father was fresh out of the shower and 'looking dapper' before the incident unfolded in the Potomac river community Saturday.
Lund
By PAMELA GOULD
Susan and David Puckett said their father was in the final stage of cancer when he drove his John Deere Gator five blocks to his former girlfriend's Fairview Beach house and killed her and then himself Saturday night.
They said he had filed a criminal complaint against his former live-in girlfriend and former employee weeks ago. And in a suicide note he blamed the inaction of King George County officials for what he was about to do.
Virginia State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar confirmed yesterday that an agent was investigating a complaint filed by Jerry Puckett against Rita Lund.
Lund, 59, had lived with Puckett, 70, at his home on Dauphin Landing near the Potomac River for about 16 years but had moved out at the end of August, Susan Puckett and David Puckett said yesterday.
Puckett's children spoke openly about their father and his final act, but King George officials had little to offer yesterday as the investigation continued into a case with more twists than the roads to Fairview Beach.
Puckett's children, who are both adults, said Jerry Puckett contacted the King George Sheriff's Office days after Lund left and after he had begun sorting through the company books. Jerry Puckett and his son operated Puckett Brothers Construction and Lund had served as secretary for about 10 years.
David Puckett said the King George Sheriff's Office and Commonwealth's Attorney's office recused themselves from the investigation because Lund was related to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Pollard.
Pollard also has a home in Fairview Beach, about one block from where the shooting occurred Saturday.
Yesterday, Pollard and King George Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Britton were at the scene of what deputies suspect was a murder-suicide.
Neither would comment on the accusations leveled by Puckett in his suicide note.
About 8:30 p.m. Saturday, deputies and firefighters responded to a waterfront house at Fifth Street and Fairview Drive after getting a report of a break-in in progress with shots fired.
When deputies arrived they noticed smoke inside the single-story house and discovered a fire. They rescued a woman and, after the fire was extinguished, found two people dead in the basement.
The King George Sheriff's Office is awaiting information from the medical examiner's office before officially releasing the names of the deceased and the cause of their deaths.
But yesterday Fairview Beach residents knew who was involved.
The survivor was identified by neighbors as Donna Knight, a sister of Rita Lund. She was hospitalized as a result of the fire and smoke. She was not shot, King George Detective Sgt. Monty Clift said.
Marie Williams said she was surprised by what she heard about both Jerry Puckett and Rita Lund.
She had had lunch with Lund and liked her but was dismayed by accusations against her.
Williams was equally dismayed at Puckett's actions on Saturday but said he was a "good guy" who was "always willing to help others."
Lund was apparently married and, with her husband, owned the home where she was killed.
King George Circuit Court Clerk Vic Mason said Lund had served as a marriage commissioner for more than five years.
David Puckett said his father was first diagnosed with melanoma cancer in 1997. Later, he learned the cancer had spread to his kidneys and lungs. Doctors said he wasn't a candidate for further treatment.
"There was pretty much nothing else they could do," he said.
But both Susan and David Puckett said their father hadn't lost any of his mental faculties.
"He knew what he was doing," she said. "He knew he wasn't coming back."
Susan Puckett had been living with her father since shortly after Lund moved out.
Saturday evening, he was there when she returned from work.
He was fresh out of the shower and "looking dapper," sitting on the sofa, sipping a Pepsi when she went to take a shower herself.
When she got out of the bathroom, the lights were off and he was gone on his Gator, a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle.
The last thing Jerry Puckett said gave no hint of what was to come.
"He told me to make sure I had everything ready for the attorney because I'm going there on Monday," she recalled. "He didn't leave me any indication."
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