The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
35°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Muder-suicide suspected in deaths of CdA father, son

Arlene Mitzimberg had to walk around the yellow crime-scene tape on Monday to retrieve her mother's laundry from the laundromat at the Tamarack Mobile Home Park after two bodies were found in the Airstream trailer in the background in an apparent murder-suicide. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
Taryn Brodwater Staff writer
Arlene Mitzimberg had to walk around the yellow crime-scene tape on Monday to retrieve her mother's laundry from the laundromat at the Tamarack Mobile Home Park after two bodies were found in the Airstream trailer in the background in an apparent murder-suicide. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

A father and son were found shot to death Monday at a Government Way mobile home park in a possible murder-suicide.

The adult daughter of one of the victims discovered the bodies about 11 a.m. Monday and called police. She told police she had received a call from her father early Sunday afternoon. She said she tried to call her father back about 4 p.m. Sunday, but he didn’t answer.

When she went to her father’s silver Airstream travel trailer at the Tamarack Mobile Home Park on Monday, she reportedly found the two men, both dead from gunshot wounds. A cat, shot and killed, was also found in the trailer, Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood said. The victims were identified as Marvin J. Hanson, 84, and Marvin W. Hanson Jr., 53.

Wood said a revolver was found in the trailer. She also said there were no other suspects in the case, but was not able to confirm that the deaths were a murder-suicide. An autopsy has been scheduled.

If the deaths are ruled a murder-suicide, it would be the second such incident in Coeur d’Alene in four days. On Friday, 29-year-old Bryan Lee Doss shot and killed his 55-year-old stepfather and was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Tubbs Hill.

Park manager Ron Miller said the Hansons began renting a space in the park in September.

“I live right across from them,” Miller said. “I never heard a gunshot or anything.”

Other neighbors, living just yards away from the scene, also said they didn’t hear anything.

Mike Robinson said he had never met the Hansons, but that they seemed quiet. Another neighbor said he believed the father was disabled and spent most his time sitting on a couch in the front of the small trailer home.

As they waited for a search warrant for Space 23-C, investigators took measurements and pictures outside and peered into the windows. Police went home to home in the park interviewing neighbors.

Some residents gathered in small groups outside the yellow tape and watched investigators. One man ate Fritos and visited with TV news reporters. Others continued with their daily activities, like washing and drying laundry at the small building next door to the trailer.

Harold Tappen said he had lived in the mobile home park at 3640 N. Government Way for 22 years. He said crime in the park – shrouded in tall trees in the middle of a busy commercial district – has been getting worse.

“The first 15 or so was pretty good,” he said. “The last five have been as ridiculous as heck. I’ll be glad when I can get out of here. This is about the worst I think it has been.”