Murder-Suicide Suspected In Deaths

An autopsy is planned today on the bodies of a Kettle Falls couple who died in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police Chief Duane Gagnon said Benjamin J. Ringer, 38, apparently slashed his wife Rebecca’s throat with a knife before killing himself with a shotgun.

The autopsy will help determine when the crime occurred.

Based on the condition of the bodies and when the couple was last seen, police believe they died sometime Thursday evening.

Gagnon said officers broke into the Ringers’ locked single-wide mobile home about 5 p.m. Saturday after a concerned neighbor reported he hadn’t seen the couple since Thursday. Both bodies were found in the master bedroom.

“I would say there had been a lot of anger there,” Gagnon said.

He said the Police Department had received no previous reports about the couple, but neighbors in the Lindsey Trailer Park said they weren’t surprised by the tragedy.

“Most of the neighbors have stated that they were always afraid that something was going to happen because they were always hearing loud arguments, very loud,” Gagnon said.

The Ringers had no children living at home, the chief said. They are survived by relatives in Spokane and Colville.

, DataTimes