Longtime radio personality and “legendary morning man” Bill Heywood and his wife, Susan, were found dead in a motel near Scottsdale with gunshot wounds to the head Tuesday night. Evidence before the incident and at the scene depict what may have been an orchestrated suicide pact between the couple, reports The Arizona Republic.
Family and friends reportedly found instructions for funeral arrangements and other details at the couple’s northeast Phoenix home, according to Scottsdale police. A housekeeper also reportedly found a suicide note on the door of their motel bedroom stating there were two suicides inside, Sgt. Mark Clark told The Republic. When police arrived, they found two handguns near the bodies.
Although police are calling the case a death investigation until the medical examiner’s preliminary report is released in a few days, Clark said it was “pretty clear something was planned.”
Heywood and his wife had been married for 35 years, but had recently been facing medical and financial problems, according to The Republic. The couple reportedly filed for bankruptcy in August 2009, and lost their home to foreclosure around the same time. Susan was also reportedly experiencing declining health due to a heart condition.
Although the couple has been described as extremely close, and their deaths the end of a “complete romance,” the circumstances of their deaths could have had serious implications if something had gone wrong. Assisted suicide is against the law in most states. If one of the Heywoods had survived, either could have been charged with homicide. However, it is not against the law to commit, or to attempt to commit, suicide.
Despite the circumstances of their deaths, friends and family of Susan and Bill Heywood have been focusing on the love they shared while they were alive.
“He really needed her,” former radio personality Preston Westmoreland said of Heywood. “She was part of his strength. This was a couple that just really belonged together.”
Related Resources:
- Find a Phoenix Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
- Police: Evidence Points to Suicides by Heywoods(KPHO)
- Assisted Suicide (FindLaw)
- Donald Lapre, Phoenix Vitamin Pusher and Alleged Fraud, Dies (Phoenix Criminal Law News)
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