Woman’s Gunshot Wound Self-Inflicted

The doctor who performed the autopsies on a woman and three young people found dead in Rigby last week said on Wednesday it appeared the woman’s gunshot wound was self-inflicted.

Dr. J. Thomas Mitchell declined to further discuss the findings of the autopsies he performed on Mary Kathryn Myers, 44; her two sons, Anthony Rice, 20, and Keith Rice, who would have turned 17 on New Year’s Day, and Christine Ann Danielson, 17, who was dating Keith Rice.

He referred additional questions to Jefferson County officials. Sheriff Blair Olsen, who has been investigating the deaths as homicides, said Mary Kathryn Myers was holding a .22-caliber pistol when her body was found. But Olsen declined to characterize the killings, saying he had not yet spoken with Mitchell or received his report.

The revelations by Mitchell and Olsen were only the latest indications that the deaths were a triple murder-suicide. Olsen said an apparent suicide note found near Mary Kathryn Myers’ body was still being analyzed by experts, who were comparing handwriting and checking fingerprints.