Fort Worth, TX: Shooting deaths at Fort Worth apartment ruled murder-suicide

FORT WORTH — Police are investigating the murder-suicide of a Fort Worth couple found shot to death in their apartment Wednesday afternoon.Chester Wallace, 90, shot his common-law wife, 58-year-old Essie Howary, in the right thigh before shooting himself in the head, according to autopsy findings released Friday by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office.Police discovered the bodies shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday after Wallace's daughter and Howary's daughter went to the couple's apartment in the 800 block of Crawford Street, concerned they had been unable to reach the pair for a few days, according to homicide Sgt. Cheryl Johnson.The children contacted police after finding the apartment door locked. Firefighters then forced entry into the apartment, police said.According to the medical examiner’s office, Howary was found on the kitchen floor and Wallace on the living room floor.Howary's death was ruled a homicide and Wallace's a suicide by the medical examiner's office.