Puzzling Deaths - 1 bullet, 2 dead

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

Husband and wife's mysterious deaths puzzling to police


Tualatin, Ore. - Police say they are baffled by the mysterious deaths of a Tualatin couple, after a preliminary investigation finds that the same bullet killed both of them.
The couple, 63-year-old Leonard Smith and his wife, 57-year-old Anita, appeared to be planning for their future.

They had recently moved to Tualatin just a couple of months ago and told neighbors they had bought the home for their retirement.

"She brought over some candy and she was real friendly for the kids and said anytime they wanted to come over they could," neighbor Jeff Pigg told KATU News. "She seemed very nice to me."

However, a puzzling discovery was made at the couple's home over the weekend after worried friends and co-workers called police.

Leonard and Anita were found dead inside the home, both with bullet wounds to the head. The strange thing was that there was only one bullet, but two victims and police believe Leonard pulled the trigger.

"The question that we can't answer is, what was the intent?" said Lt. Jeff Groth with the Tualatin Police Department. "Was this a murder-suicide, a double suicide or was it a suicide accident? This is an out-of-the-norm situation."

"It's pretty shocking," neighbor Jan Davis told KATU News. "It's not what usually happens in Tualatin and certainly not on this little street."

Anita was ill, telling a neighbor she suffered from Lupus, but police say they have no way of knowing whether her death was a mercy killing or a murder.