Southlake, CA: Southlake man charged in wife’s shooting death

Published on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 12:08 AM PDT

Cathy Perfect and George Stahl
Kern Valley Sun

Just before 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20, deputies from the Kern Valley Substation in Lake Isabella responded to a 911 call in which William Sullivan, 39, of Southlake, reported he had just killed his 45-year-old wife, Michelle “Shelly” Sullivan, according to a statement by Kern County Sheriff's Homicide Detective Craig Rennie.

“They were just at my house for dinner,” said the victim’s sister, Rhonda Healy, shortly after she arrived outside her sister’s Southlake home. “Everything was fine. I haven’t a clue why Bill would shoot her.”

Sullivan appeared in Kern County Superior Court July 22. His arraignment was put off until Aug. 1, giving him time to hire an attorney.


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Sheriff's deputies, Kern County Fire, CHP, and Care Ambulance personnel arrived at 8420 Radiant Way in Southlake, and deputies attempted to locate Sullivan.

Eventually they contacted Sullivan, dressed in a bloody shirt, outside his residence smoking a cigarette, Rennie said.

Sullivan was detained while deputies checked his residence.

They found William's wife dead in the living room of the couple's home. She appeared to have suffered a single gunshot wound.

Sheriff's Homicide Detectives responded and began their investigation. They located evidence at the scene, including a large caliber rifle and ammunition, officials said.

Detectives developed probable cause to believe that Sullivan shot and killed his wife of 10 years. He was placed under arrest for the murder and transported to the Kern County Jail.

Patrick Hunter, Michelle Sullivan’s brother, was in shock, as were other family members.

“It had to be an accident,” Hunter said. “He wouldn’t just point a gun at Shelly and shoot her. He's like a brother to me.”

The following morning, the families’ stress was compounded when 46-year-old Healy, the victim’s sister, lost control of her car on Goat Ranch Road. Witnesses said she was travelling about 35 to 40 mph, when she failed to make a curve and drove her car into a weekender’s front yard and took out a fence.

The following day, Friday, July 22, William Sullivan was set to be arraigned in Superior Court on first-degree murder charges. Sullivan sat quietly in the courtroom as other suspects were arraigned,talking only to Judge Sullivan.

Judge Collette Humphrey, of the Kern County Superior Court, continued Sullivan’s arraignment as Sullivan said he would hire a private attorney, but had not yet had the opportunity to do so.

Humphrey granted Sullivan until Aug. 1 to secure an attorney and then set his bail at $2 million.