College basketball and former NBA referee Troy Raymond committed suicide in a New Orleans hotel room late last week just hours after police found his wife's body in their Houston-area home.
Police found his wife, Leslie Anderson Raymond, 41, deceased at their home in Spring, Texas, at 2:08 p.m. on Friday.
Constable Tim Holifield of Montgomery County Precinct Three told CBSSports.com that the medical examiner ruled the cause of death a homicide caused by asphyxiation due to manual strangulation.
"We're not prepared to tell you who's responsible," Holified said. "But certainly Mr. Raymond is a person of interest -- and his death brings about more questions than answers."
Holified said that during the course of the investigation while at the residence on Friday, investigators were notified that Troy Raymond had been found dead in a hotel in New Orleans due to a single gunshot wound to the head.
Holifield added that investigators with his office are working jointly with the Jefferson Parrish Sheriff's Office, but would not comment on any correlation between the two deaths at this time.
Sources told CBSSports.com that Leslie Anderson Raymond had recently asked for a divorce -- and Raymond had also been informed by one coordinator of officials that he would not be re-hired to work games next season.
Fellow referee Bobby Bissant told CBSSports.com he was informed that Raymond's wife had been killed from one of Raymond's childhood friends on Friday afternoon -- and while the two were talking, the police called and told the friend that Raymond had committed suicide.
"I still can't believe it," said Bissant, who worked three games this past season with Raymond. "I haven't been able to sleep since I heard the news."
Raymond spent a year in the NBA, but was forced out in 2004 after he was caught lying on his résumé for the referee's media guide. He had written that he attended the University of Colorado and played on the school's national champion football team, according to a 2007 story in the Wall Street Journal, and numerous sources also said he falsified that he was a pilot in the Air Force.
Raymond, 46, worked 17 games in the college ranks last season, primarily in the Southland and Sun Belt conferences.
"He was a very good official," Bissant said.
Sun Belt coordinator of men's basketball officials Mike Wood last talked to Raymond in June and said he "seemed in good spirits."
"We definitely would have used him again this year," Wood said. "He would have made our roster."
Both Raymond and his wife attended Southern University in New Orleans. Leslie Anderson Raymond had two children from a previous marriage.
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