Tracey Parker Willetts shoots and kills Stephen Larnell Willetts a day after 40 wedding anniversary amid tragic history including the New Hanover County, Wilmington, North Carolina couple losing both sons a year apart and struggling with ongoing grief.
A North Carolina husband and wife were found dead inside their Wilmington area home one day after their 40th wedding anniversary.
The deaths of Tracey Parker Willetts, 58, and Stephen Larnell Willetts, 65, are now being investigated as a murder-suicide as the family’s history is now being revealed.
The husband and wife were found with apparent gunshot wounds in their Wilmington home early Thursday morning after a smartwatch one of them was wearing detected a fall and called 911, WWAY reports.
Couple who lost both sons within a year found dead in murder-suicide
Emergency medical responders could not gain entrance to the home until deputies from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office barged in through a garage door, according to WECT.
The Willetts were pronounced dead at the scene.
Preliminary evidence suggested Tracey fatally shooting her husband before taking her own life.
A motive remains unclear. However a family member revealed the couple’s tragic past alluding to almost unsurmountable loss and grieving with the couple losing both sons a year apart.
A man who identified himself as Tracey’s second cousin, Fuller Royal, said in a Facebook post that Tracey and Stephen lost their son, Zack, in 2013 and their other son, Colby, the following year.
‘I can’t begin to imagine how much that hurt and what they went through,’ Royal wrote. ‘I pray they are reunited with their boys and that everyone is whole, safe and at peace.’
It was unclear how the sons had died.
Wife kills husband then self after 40th wedding anniversary as couple are remembered
Royal also used his post to remember the family, describing Stephen as a ‘lifelong friend’ who ‘helped a lot of people’ during his work as an EMT.
Others remembered Stephen for his friendly personality, with neighbor Wyatt Heartline saying ‘he was always down to have a conversation.’
‘I’m a runner and he’d often ask me how my progress is going or walking our dogs and just a brief “hello,”‘ he recounted to WECT. ‘He was consistent and one of the friendliest people I’ve met around here.
‘The neighborhood is thoroughly shocked,’ the neighbor added.
Another neighbor, Andy Johnson, said he would regularly see Stephen walking his dog.
‘He’s retired Army,’ he said of the former EMT. ‘I was in the Army myself, so we spent a lot of time talking in the afternoons and stuff as he came by.’
Meanwhile, a friend of Tracey’s told WWAY that she was someone who always wanted to do the right thing for people in her community – and noted that Wednesday marked the couple’s 40th wedding anniversary.
The couple was also well-known in the Wrightsville Beach paddleboarding community, with Jared Covington, the owner of Wrightsville SUP, saying he had known them for more than a decade.
‘We became like family, just sharing a love for being outside on the water, paddleboarding,’ Covington said.
He remembered the couple as being energetic, outgoing and devoted to one another.
Authorities continue to investigate.
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