Victims Died From Gunshot Wounds, Deputies Say
BY LESLIE BRAY EVANS, THE STOKES NEWS
POSTED: 9:22 am EDT September 1, 2010
UPDATED: 3:10 pm EDT September 1, 2010
STOKES COUNTY, N.C. -- A man and woman are dead in northern Stokes County, the result of an apparent murder/suicide. On Tuesday, August 31, Ray Allan Collingwood, 53, and Loretta Ann Campbell, 53, were found with apparent gunshot injuries at their home at 1110 Chestnut Ridge Lane, Danbury.
The tragic saga came to light early Tuesday morning when Campbell’s co-workers at Volvo Trucks North America in Greensboro called the Stokes County Sheriff’s Department. According to Major Durward Bennett at the sheriff’s department, they were concerned that Campbell, an employee who rarely missed a day of work, did not report to Volvo on Monday, August 30, and now was missing again with no word.
Officers responded to the request for a welfare check and drove out to the residence which is on a private road that branches off Peter Mabe Road, just off Highway 8 near Lawsonville. “The officers could hear dogs barking inside, but they couldn’t get anyone to the door,” Bennett said.
The door, however, was unlocked. So at approximately 9:30 a.m., the responding officers entered the residence. Upon opening the door, seven dogs ran out. Law officers proceeded inside where they discovered the bodies of the deceased couple.
Captain Craig Carico of the Stokes County Sheriff’s Department stated that preliminary findings show what appears to be a murder/suicide case.
Bennett said that it would appear that Collingwood shot Campbell and then turned the gun on himself. As to the time of the shooting, Bennett commented, “Our best guess is Saturday night or early Sunday.”
Law enforcement officials believe that both Collingwood and Campbell are from the northeastern part of the United States. One report was that Collingwood had retired from the steel mills farther north.
An autopsy was being performed on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to determine the exact cause of death. The investigation is pending at this time.
This article appeared in Wednesday's edition of the Stokes News.
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