Michigan Woman Kills Father And Self After He Euthanized Her Dog

A 28-year-old Michigan woman took her own life Monday shortly after shooting and killing her father. Sheriff Scott Stephenson of the Midland County Sheriff’s Department in northern Michigan said Stephanie Nies fatally shot her father, Rayton Dale Nies, according to local reports Tuesday.

Stephenson said the sheriff’s department received two calls regarding the incident, which occurred in Rayton Nies’ home between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday. The first call was from 67-year-old Rayton Nies, who told Midland County 911 that his daughter had a loaded gun and was threatening him with it. And the second call allegedly came from Rayton Nies’ son, who was also in house, saying his father had been shot, according to the Associated Press Tuesday.

The sheriff’s department reached the crime scene, which is an approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes car ride north of Detroit, at roughly 8:30 p.m. to find Rayton Nies dead. Officials issued a statewide broadcast urging local police officers to find Stephanie Nies, warning that she was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and dangerous.

Police were able to locate Stephanie Nies at roughly 1:40 a.m. Tuesday 5 miles from the place of the shooting by tracking her phone. She was discovered dead in her vehicle from a single gunshot wound with the supposed weapon used to kill father in close proximity.

Stephenson said the motivations behind the shooting remain unclear, but that the department discovered Facebook posts saying Stephanie Nies was angry with her father for euthanizing her dog without telling her on the same day of the killing.

Stephanie Nies recently studied at Saginaw Valley State University with the hopes of becoming a nurse, but she wasn’t enrolled in classes this current semester.

Detroit, Michigan, had the second highest murder rate in the country for cities of more than 100,000 residents in 2014 at roughly 44 murders per 100,000 behind St. Louis, Missouri, the Detroit News reported on Oct. 2, 2015. Detroit experienced 298 murders in 2014, which was 18 less than in 2013.

Gordon Traskos, who was Rayton Dale Nies’ neighbor, told local reporters the victim “seemed like a very nice person.”

"Terrible. I just can't understand it," said Traskos.