UNNAMED GIRL - 6 yo (9/2015) - Suspect(suicide): Grandmother; Unnamed - Eureka MO

by mom_in_il Thu Oct 01, 2015 1:42 pm

50-year-old kills granddaughter in apparent murder-suicide, police say

POSTED 9:52 AM, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, BY KEVIN S. HELD

EUREKA, MO (KTVI) - Eureka police are investigating what appears to be a murder-suicide at a hotel near the Six Flags amusement park.

According to Lt. Dave Wilson, a spokesman for the Eureka Police Department, officers were called to the Holiday Inn Saint Louis West at Six Flags around 11 a.m. after hotel staff found the bodies of two people inside a room.

Wilson said the bodies were of a 50-year-old woman and her 6-year-old granddaughter. Both died as a result of gunshot wounds.

Hotel employees went to the grandmother`s first floor room because she had not checked out of the hotel as expected. When no one answered the door employees used a pass key to enter the room. They found both bodies in the bed, both were dressed. A handgun was also found in the room.

The pair had checked in to the hotel Monday afternoon, the day before they were found dead. The exact time of death is not known.

The grandmother`s house is in western St. Louis County. She had legal custody of her granddaughter since birth, even though her son, who is the father of the girl, lived in the same house. He was estranged from the child`s mother.

Police are trying to figure out a motive. Right now all they are saying is there may have been a mental health issue involved.

There is no indication why the grandmother chose the Eureka Holiday Inn. police say the girl`s father had not been worried when the two did not come home Monday night because they had left home overnight before.

The Holiday Inn staff had seen the pair Monday night, but did not notice anything unusual. THe hotel is not commenting, but clearly this was a shock to the employees who found the bodies.

Their names have not been released, pending notification of family members.

http://fox2now.com/2015/09/30/51-year-old-kills-granddaughter-in-apparent-murder-suicide-police-say/