Single Shot To Head Killed Deputy’s Wife

A single gunshot to the head killed Patty DiBartolo, the mother of five slain at a South Hill park on Saturday night.

“There was nothing earthshaking at all,” Capt. Roger Bragdon said Tuesday of the results on an autopsy performed on DiBartolo’s body.

The woman died after being shot in an apparent robbery attempt as she and her husband Tom DiBartolo, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, walked to their van at Lincoln Park.

Deputy DiBartolo, who also was shot in the 9:30 p.m. incident, told police he and his wife were at the hillside park to look at the city lights.

He received a flesh wound to the abdomen and was treated and released from Sacred Heart Medical Center on Sunday morning.

Pathologists retrieved the bullet that killed Patty DiBartolo during their examination, said major crimes Lt. Jerry Oien. He would not say what caliber slug was taken from the woman.

But police spokesman Dick Cottam said the bullet was not the type used in DiBartolo’s service weapon, a Glock handgun.

The deputy told investigators he fired his Glock at the two men who attacked him and his wife. He wasn’t sure if he hit them.

An Explorer Scout searching the park for evidence Monday found a slug matching the type used in Glock handguns embedded in a tree near the shooting scene.

DiBartolo, an 18-year member of the sheriff’s department, told detectives one assailant had a snub-nosed, .38-caliber revolver that was fired twice during the attack.

Scuba divers searched a pond at the park looking for that gun Monday but did not find it.

Detectives uncovered no new leads Tuesday, Bragdon said.

Investigators are still looking at “all possibilities” in the case, Bragdon said. “No arrests are imminent,” he added.

DiBartolo remained on bereavement leave Tuesday, Sheriff John Goldman said.

Sheriff’s detectives will conduct an internal investigation into the shootings as soon as the criminal investigation is concluded, Goldman said.

Detectives will ask DiBartolo about his decision to fire his gun and investigate his conduct during the incident, Goldman said.

Patty DiBartolo’s funeral will be held Friday. The service begins at 1:30 p.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 505 W. St. Thomas More Way.

The 39-year-old woman was a 32-year resident of the Spokane area and a 1975 graduate of Ferris High School.

The grandmother of two worked at Telco Credit Union.

Friends who wish to make memorial contributions can donate money to a trust fund for the DiBartolos’ five children.

The fund has been established at the Telco Credit Union, 428 E. Third.

, DataTimes