Fort Valley, GA: Sheriff says couple in murder-suicide was divorcing

By BECKY PURSER - bpurser@macon.com

FORT VALLEY -- A Fort Valley couple was in the middle of a divorce when the husband murdered his wife and killed himself, the Peach County sheriff said.
James Wallace, 54, shot his wife, Annie Ruth Wallace, 54, twice in the neck and once in the head Friday as she sat in front of her computer at their home at 206 Summer Breeze Drive, Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese said Monday.

Before turning the 9mm pistol on himself, Wallace went to the bedroom where his adult daughter, Charidy Wallace, was lying in bed and he told her to leave the home, Deese said.
The daughter told authorities that her father told her that “she needed to leave. He couldn’t take it anymore,” Deese said. Wallace had the pistol in his hand.
The daughter told authorities she was sleeping when she heard what she now realizes were gunshots but initially dismissed it as possibly her mother dropping something, Deese said. But when the father came to the door and she saw the pistol in his hand, she realized what had happened.
She left the home immediately, went to a neighbor’s home and 911 was called at 1:25 p.m.
Arriving deputies found both the wife and the husband shot dead inside the home, with the gun still in James Wallace’s hand where he shot himself in the living room.
No suicide note was found, but Wallace did leave a note for the daughter who lived in the home about financial matters. The sheriff believed that the couple had other adult children who do not live at the home.
Deese said the case is straightforward, with no doubt that the incident was a murder-suicide.
Monday’s autopsy for Annie Ruth Wallace was a formality before her body was released to family in part to confirm that the bullets matched the gun used, Deese said. An autopsy is not planned for James Wallace.
The autopsy found that Annie Ruth Wallace died from her injuries from the bullet wounds, Peach County Coroner Kerry Rooks said.
“There’s no doubt about it. There’s no doubt that was the gun that he (James Wallace) used to shoot her with,” Rooks said.
Family members were gathered Monday at the one-story brick home, which is located in the Country Meadows subdivision off of Housers Mill Road in Peach County. Mark Davis, the brother of Annie Ruth Wallace, said the family was not ready to talk at this time.
The murder-suicide marks the first homicide in unincorporated Peach County in 2010.
To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.