The two people found dead after an Aledo fire and explosion last Thursday may have died in a murder-suicide, a Mercer County official said Tuesday.
“We’re really looking at murder-suicide now,” Mercer County Coroner Ron McNall said about the deaths of Patti Jo Lindquist and Timothy Gerald Meade.
McNall had earlier confirmed that the two were killed by gunfire.
Lindquist and Meade were in a two-story house at 1275 200th St., along a gravel country road off Illinois 94 north of Aledo, after officers were called at 3:28 p.m. to check on the welfare of someone there.
They found the home engulfed in flames and the bodies of Lindquist, 40, and Meade, 53.
“They’re investigating as to how it took place and who done what, but they were both shot,” McNall said “The fire did not cause their death.”
The coroner declined to tell the location of their gunshot wounds or where their bodies were found in the rubble after the fire was extinguished.
Lindquist had filed an order of protection against Meade, and they were living together in the house.
According to the order of protection filed last week in Mercer County, Lindquist claimed Meade was going to “knock her out” and he was “also going to make her watch him kill himself.”
Those accusations from a June 30 incident were detailed in a July 2 order filed by Lindquist, who filed it under the name Patti Eash. She previously was married to Steven Eash.
The order also indicated the two had a dating relationship and shared the rural Aledo home. In addition, the order indicated Meade possessed shotguns, rifles and semi-automatic weapons.
EARLIER STORY
Gunfire killed the 2 people found dead after Aledo explosion
The two people found dead after an Aledo fire and explosion last Thursday were killed by gunfire, Mercer County Coroner Ron McNall said today.
Patti Jo Lindquist and Timothy Gerald Meade were found in a two-story house at 1275 200th St., along a gravel country road off Illinois 94 north of Aledo, after officers were called at 3:28 p.m. to check on the welfare of someone there.
They found the home engulfed in flames and the bodies of Lindquist, 40, and Meade, 53.
“They’re investigating as to how it took place and who done what, but they were both shot,” McNall said. “The fire did not cause their death.”
The coroner declined to tell the location of their gunshot wounds or where their bodies were found in the rubble after the fire was extinguished.
Lindquist had filed an order of protection against Meade, and they were living together in the house.
EARLIER STORY
'She was a sweetheart,' friend says
ALEDO, Ill. — All Patti Jo Lindquist needed was clothes for the weekend when she came back home after having filed an order of protection against her live-in boyfriend, Timothy Gerard Meade.
A friend of Lindquist recalled those final actions Monday as she continued piecing together last week’s incident that resulted in two deaths.
“She was a sweetheart,” said Lindquist’s longtime friend, Tiff Chinlund of Aledo. “She had this smile. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t like her.”
Chinlund said she’s still in shock over what happened.
Lindquist and Meade were living in a two-story house at 1275 200th St., along a gravel country road just off Illinois 94 north of Aledo.
She hadn’t been there in days before she returned sometime Thursday, Chinlund said, adding that Lindquist was trying to avoid Meade.
“She didn’t see his car there, so she went inside,” Chinlund said.
Officers were called to the home at 3:28 p.m. Thursday, initially to check on the welfare of the residents. What they found was a home engulfed in flames and the burned bodies of Lindquist, 40, and Meade, 53, partially buried in the rubble.
Over the weekend, Mercer County sheriff’s officials concluded that Lindquist and Meade did not die from the fire. The investigation continued Monday, with no new information released about the causes of the two deaths or the source of the fire and explosion.
No one knows exactly what happened, but Chinlund said Lindquist and Meade had a rough relationship, and Lindquist began to grow more and more afraid of him.
“He was very possessive,” Chinlund said. “If he couldn’t have her, no one could.”
Mercer County records show Patti J. Eash filed an order of protection against Meade on July 2. Lindquist was previously married to Steven Eash, court records show.
Chinlund also confirmed that Lindquist had an order of protection against Meade.
Officials did not release Meade’s hometown, but records show an address for him at 2206 Atalissa Road, Atalissa, Iowa.
There was also an envelope with Meade’s Atalissa address among the rubble at the Aledo property on Monday.
It’s unclear whether Lindquist owned the rural Aledo home. Her father’s name, Robert Lindquist, is on the mailbox. The family owns a farm and another home a half-mile up the road. No one was at the other home to comment Monday.
A pile of rubble and partially collapsed walls are all that remain of the home where Lindquist and Meade died. In the yard was a pile of papers from the Carpenters Pension Fund of Illinois. Lindquist, an electrician by trade, was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 145 in Moline, according to her obituary.
A child’s swing hung from a tree in the front yard and a bird feeder hung from another tree. Neighbors weren’t home next door to ask about the chickens still clucking from the coop behind Lindquist’s house.
Lindquist left behind two daughters from previous marriages.
Chinlund first met Lindquist years ago when she taught her daughter at a Head Start center in Aledo.
“She was a wonderful mother and a wonderful person,” Chinlund said.
Her friend wishes Lindquist had taken someone with her when she went back home Thursday.
“Maybe she’d still be with us today,” Chinlund said.
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