Maryland Murder-Suicide: Man Shoots Wife Before Killing Self, Motive Under Investigation

KEY POINTS

The victims were identified as Jose Mejia, 48, and Denia Corea, 43
Initial investigation showed Mejia shot Corea before killing himself
An investigation into the matter is underway

In a murder-suicide case, a husband and wife were found dead in their home in Baltimore. This was the third instance of murder-suicide that has been reported in the past five weeks in Harford County in the city.

The victims were identified as Jose Mejia, 48, and Denia Corea, 43. Initial investigation showed Mejia shot Corea before killing himself. A juvenile female living in the home informed the sheriff’s deputies about the shooting incident at Nuttal Avenue on Wednesday. On arriving, the officers found the child and moved her outside. The child's identity or relationship to the couple was not clear.

According to the sheriff’s office, the deputies were told at least two people were inside the home and one may have been shot. The officers tried to make contact with the occupants of the home, but nobody responded, following which they had to make a forced entry into the residence.

Deputies found Corea and Mejia dead on the ground in an upstairs bedroom. Both had gunshot wounds to their heads, sheriff’s office spokesperson Cristie Hopkins told the Baltimore Sun. There were no obvious signs of a struggle, Hopkins said, adding an investigation to find the motive was underway.

There have been several murder-suicide cases not only in Maryland but in other states too.

Last month, a 38-year-old man fatally shot his three-year-old son before killing himself in their Bel Air home, the Baltimore Sun reported. The victims were identified as Jason Douglas DeWitt and Grayson DeWitt.

In October, a woman in Washington shot her twin daughters before killing herself. The bodies of the victims were found inside a bedroom. Detectives determined the mother, 55-year-old Michele Deegan, shot her twin seven-year-old daughters while they were asleep. She then turned the gun on herself. According to a preliminary investigation, Deegan had been involved in a custody dispute about the children, “which appears to be the primary motive behind the incident,” authorities said.