Port St. Lucie, FL: Police suspect murder, suicide attempt with divorcing Port St. Lucie couple

By James Kirley
Posted September 10, 2011 at 4:40 p.m., updated September 10, 2011 at 6:58 p.m.

PORT ST. LUCIE - Tom Nichols, public information officer with the Port St. Lucie Police Department, gives a brief statement about an apparent attempted murder-suicide in the 500 block of Northwest Kilpatrick Avenue. Sharon Fein, 44, was found dead at the residence and her husband, Robert Fein, was found in the same room with a gunshot wound to the face.
PORT ST. LUCIE — A local woman is dead and her husband in critical condition Saturday after what police say appears to be a domestic-related shooting and attempted suicide at 510 N.W. Kilpatrick Ave.

Sharon Fein, 44, was pronounced dead after being found by Port St. Lucie police officers in a bedroom of the couple's home Friday evening. Police, who were sent to the residence about 8:30 p.m., said she had suffered head and face wounds.

Her husband, 54-year-old Robert Fein, was found on the bed in the same room with a face wound and a 12-gauge shotgun nearby, according to Officer Thomas Nichols, police spokesman. Investigators suspect Robert Fein shot his wife before turning the weapon on himself, Nichols said.

Police said they received a phone call Friday evening from Sharon Fein's sister in upstate New York, asking they check on Sharon Fein's welfare. Nichols reported the caller told police her sister was going through a "nasty divorce" with Robert Fein and had not been heard from all day.

When no one answered the front door for police, they entered through unlocked French doors in the rear of the home. They found the couple behind a closed bedroom door.

Robert Fein was taken by ambulance to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce.

Neighbors said the Feins had moved into the home about one year ago from an unknown location up north.

The outside of the couple's single-story red brick home in Port St. Lucie is decorated in an island motif: Its house number is painted on a surfboard outside the front door. Polynesian idols and a giant pair of mirrored sunglasses are hung above the garage door, near a trailered boat and a white Jeep with a surf board rack on its roof.

"They loved the water," said Evelyn Waltuch, a neighbor across the street. "They had a pool in the back yard and they were always around the pool."

Waltuch said Robert Fein brought her home-cooked spaghetti sauce and Sharon would often chat with her when walking the family dog.

She was so friendly," Waltuch said. "She talked to everybody."

Robert Fein had not been charged with any crime by Saturday afternoon, Nichols said, and the incident was still under investigation.