4-year-old girl, father found dead in apparant Puyallup murder-suicide
Nov 25, 2014, 2:06 PM | Updated: 2:24 pm
A 4-year-old girl and her father are dead in what the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department says appears to be a murder-suicide.
Deputies discovered the pair at an apartment in the 17700 block of 85th Ave. Ct. E. in the South Hill area Tuesday morning.
A neighbor called 911 after becoming worried about the 58-year-old and the girl.
“He made some comments that he was recently depressed and he was about to be evicted from his apartment today. (He) made some comments he was going a long way a way,” said Detective Ed Troyer.
Troyer said the man’s SUV was in the parking lot, loaded with boxes.
Deputies looked in the window and saw the girl lying in her bed. They broke into the apartment and found her dead.
The father was found dead elsewhere in the apartment.
Troyer said the holidays can exacerbate depression and urged family, friends and neighbors to be on the lookout for warning signs.
“If people know people who are on the edge or they think there’s a problem, definitely intervene and give somebody a call,” he said.
Among the warning signs are uncharacteristic behavior such as suddenly giving away all of their belongings, acting erratically or avoiding making plans.
“A lot of times we go to these type of calls and people say afterwards, ‘I knew something was wrong,’ and then they feel bad for not doing something about it. The worst that’s going to happen is somebody’s going to come out and check, so don’t be afraid to do something.”
