Crime & Safety
Elderly Couple in Murder-Suicide are Identified
Sheriff's office says deteriorating health may have been behind the shootings.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has released the names of the elderly couple who died following an apparent murder-suicide on Friday at a home just outsided the Scotts Valley city limits.
Deputies responded to the scene, in an unicorporated area of Santa Cruz, just before 4 p.m. Friday after receiving a report of two gravely injured people at a home in the 100 block of Sims Road, according to Deputy April Skalland.
Ninety-year-old Ray Wiens was dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Skalland said.
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His wife, 88-year-old Katherine Wiens, was found unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. She was flown from nearby Brook Knoll Elementary School to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 10:22 a.m. Sunday.
The handgun used in the shooting was recovered at the home, Skalland said.
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Investigators said the couple's deteriorating health might have been a motive for the murder-suicide.
~Bay City News contributed to this report
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