Thursday, November 24, 2011

Fauquier County, VA: Fauquier shooting scrutinized

Fauquier investigators are looking into apparent domestic dispute that left man dead and estranged wife critically wounded.

Date published: 11/23/2011

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

Authorities continue to investigate a shooting in which a Fauquier County man was killed and his estranged wife critically wounded.

Judy Kay Deal, 57, remained in critical condition yesterday at Fairfax Inova Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, according to a family member.

Her estranged husband, John Michael Deal, 60, died from a handgun shot to the torso, according to Fauquier County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Hartman.

Hartman said investigators don't think anyone else was involved in the shooting, but no charges had been filed as of yesterday.

Hartman said that authorities were called to John Deal's residence in the Orlean area about 4:30 p.m. Sunday after the couple's grown daughter, who lived with her father at the home, reported hearing gunshots.

They found John Deal dead and Judy Deal wounded.

Judy Deal's residence was listed as Amissville along the Culpeper/Rappahannock county line. For the past year, she had worked as a caretaker for an elderly woman in Culpeper.

John and Judy Deal were high school sweethearts in Rappahannock County, where they grew up. They married soon after she graduated Rappahannock High.

Family members said the couple had been separated for a number of years.

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