Robbers Killed Wife Of Deputy Officer Wounded After Pair Enjoyed View In Lincoln Park

Police are searching for two men who wounded an off-duty sheriff’s deputy and killed his wife during an attempted robbery Saturday night at a South Hill park.

Patty DiBartolo, 39, a mother of five and grandmother of two, died that night of a gunshot wound, police said.

Tom DiBartolo, an 18-year veteran of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, was shot in the torso. Police said the wound was “serious,” although DiBartolo, 41, went home Sunday morning from Sacred Heart Medical Center.

DiBartolo fired his handgun at the two robbers as they fled Lincoln Park, but he told police he doesn’t know whether he hit them.

Police detained “a person of interest” Sunday but released him when his alibi checked out, said Police Chief Terry Mangan. “We don’t have anybody under arrest,” Mangan said. “We have not focused on any individuals.”

Police have not released a description of the suspects.

DiBartolo called police on his cellular phone about 9:30 p.m. Saturday as he was driving his wife from the park to Sacred Heart. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to police spokesman Dick Cottam.

Police immediately closed Southeast Boulevard on the park’s western border. Search dogs tracked, but then lost, the suspects’ scent, Cottam said.

About 40 Explorers and other volunteers combed the park Sunday morning, looking for clues. Police would not say whether they have recovered any evidence.

According to Cottam, the DiBartolos left their car in the parking area near Southeast Boulevard and followed a paved trail to a spot where they could see the city lights.

When they returned to their vehicle, two men approached them and demanded money, according to Cottam.

There was a struggle over a handgun, and one of the men fired two shots, hitting DiBartolo and his wife, Cottam said.

Cottam did not report whether the robbers were armed when they approached the couple or if they briefly wrestled away DiBartolo’s handgun.

Mangan would offer no further details.

“We’re looking at all the possible explanations for what happened out there,” he said. “We are absolutely determined to get to the bottom of this.”

For several years, DiBartolo headed the Sheriff’s Department’s marine unit, which patrols the county’s lakes and rivers. In recent years, he transferred to the civil department, serving warrants and eviction notices.

In an interview last year, he talked about the difficulty of balancing his family life with a career that frequently demands working overtime.

“Life is not all work,” he said.

Mangan said chaplains for the police and sheriff’s departments visited with DiBartolo’s family Sunday morning.

Although they are separate agencies, the city Police Department and county Sheriff’s Department share the same building and work closely together.

“We all know one another and our family members,” Mangan said.

But while counselors are available for officers who need help dealing with the shootings, “our primary focus has to be to investigate this homicide and find out who’s responsible for it,” Mangan said.

By late Sunday afternoon, there was no sign of the previous night’s homicide at the popular park. Cars filled the parking lot where the DiBartolos were shot, and joggers trod the path that circles a duck pond.

Margaret Valencuela carried her sleeping 2-year-old son. Her husband, Paul, struggled to control their golden retriever.

The family visits the park occasionally - and doesn’t plan to stop.

“Hopefully, it (the shooting) is an isolated incident,” Margaret Valencuela said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo Map of area.