Couple had history of fights in, out of court

The marriage that ended Monday when William V. Brinnon allegedly killed his wife and then shot himself in the head was rife with domestic violence.

The 46-year-old Rathdrum man and his wife, 43-year-old Dana J. Brinnon, had sought protection orders against each other in the past.

William Brinnon, who survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, most recently filed for a protection order against his wife on March 12. It was dismissed by a Kootenai County judge March 20, sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

As investigators on Tuesday continued processing crime scenes near the couple’s Cross Creek Road home, William Brinnon was arrested on one charge of second-degree murder but remains in intensive care at Kootenai Medical Center. He lost an eye but is expected to recover, a source close to the case said Tuesday.

Results from Dana Brinnon’s autopsy could be available today, Wolfinger said.

“We don’t know what the cause of death is at this point,” Wolfinger said. The only weapon recovered at the scene was the handgun William Brinnon used to shoot himself, he said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from a family member Monday evening.

William Brinnon met his 21-year-old son outside the family’s home just before 5 p.m. and allegedly told his son he had killed the young man’s mother, investigators said.

The son went into the home and saw his mother’s body on the living room floor, left the home and called a relative, who then dialed 911.

When deputies got to the home, however, they did not find Dana Brinnon or William Brinnon inside. William Brinnon later was found in a nearby office for a housing development, authorities said. He shot himself in the head when deputies entered, they said.

His wife’s body was found shortly afterward a few hundred yards west of the building, Wolfinger said.

“Apparently she was moved,” Wolfinger said. “Part of the investigation will be to determine how she got where we found her.”

Wolfinger said investigators had not interviewed William Brinnon as of Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities responded to a number of domestic disputes involving the couple over the last several years. William Brinnon was arrested in 1997 for domestic battery. The citation said he pulled his wife’s hair.

In a 2006 incident, Dana Brinnon was charged with domestic battery for trying to hit her husband with a shovel.

The couple’s daughter called to turn in her mother, telling sheriff’s deputies that Dana Brinnon gets violent when she gets angry.

Dana Brinnon told deputies that her husband had tried to choke her during an argument a day earlier.

She twice was arrested on charges of domestic battery, and she had a protection order against her husband in 1997.

Prior to the recent protection order, William Brinnon had requested restraining orders against his wife three times.