Price, UT: Man, wife killed in apparent murder-suicide, police say

PRICE — A couple is dead in what Carbon County investigators are calling an apparent murder-suicide. Authorities said a man called the Price Utah Public Safety Dispatch just before 3 a.m. on Sunday to report that he shot his wife and intended to shoot himself. Officers from various police agencies responded to a residence in the area of 600 West 300 South in Price.

Four children were safely removed from the residence as officers attempted to make contact with the husband and wife who remained inside.

A Carbon County Sheriff SWAT team entered the residence and discovered the bodies of 37-year old David Scott Donaldson and 32-year old Shaniel Kaye Donaldson in the master bedroom.

The investigation by Price Police Department and the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office is ongoing. The children — who were not physically harmed — are in the custody of family members.

According to Price Police Captain Bill Barnes, there had been no history of "domestic discord" in the home, making the incident all the more surprising.

"From the outside, it certainly came out of the blue," he said. "It's a shock to everybody that knew them. It's very horrific!"

A woman who identified herself as a relative of David Donaldson and who spoke on condition of anonymity said the couple had some marital problems over the years, but she would have never guessed that something like this would have happened.

“Last night, things seem to be okay, but what happened between then and 3 o’clock in the morning we just don’t know,” she said. "(There is) definitely shock and disbelief. It’s just a tragedy for everyone.”