Recordings from the Berrien County dispatch center shed more light on what happened at a home in St. Joseph, Mich., when a well known Michiana area journalist and radio host was shot to death by her husband before he took his own life on Tuesday.
“We have a child caller on the phone,” a Berrien County 9-1-1 dispatcher said in the recording. “He’s advising that he’s found his father. He believes he’s passed away in the basement. He does see blood all over.”
Denise Bohn Stewart, 45, was found dead in a bedroom of her home on Wyndwicke Drive on Tuesday, April 19, and her husband Eric Stewart was found dead in the basement after an apparent murder-suicide.
The couple’s three children, ages 8, 9 and 10, were home and found their father in the house’s basement in a pool of blood. One of the children called 911 at 6:38 a.m., Michigan State Police said.
“We’ve got three young juveniles. There’s bullet holes in the wall,” the dispatcher said. “[The kids] said they heard bangs. The father’s supposed to be in the basement and the mother’s supposed to be upstairs.”
When officers arrived, the three children were waiting at the front door.
Officers quickly found Bohn Stewart’s body in an upstairs bedroom and Stewart’s body in the basement.
Autopsies performed Wednesday showed that Bohn Stewart died of multiple gunshot wounds to her upper torso, Michigan State Police said. Stewart died of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Stewart used a handgun that was purchased legally in 2012 by someone else in a state that wasn’t Michigan, Michigan State Police said. It’s not clear how Stewart gained access to the gun.
Investigators combed the home on Tuesday and found no suicide note, but police have said that it’s possible the crime was planned ahead of time.
The shooting remains under investigation.
