Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
A relative of one of the victims called 911 about 4:30 p.m. By the time deputies reached 1400 S Alto Verde Ter., both victims had died.
By BILL VARIAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2001
INVERNESS -- Citrus County sheriff's deputies are investigating what they believe is a murder-suicide that occurred Monday afternoon in the Hill Countryside Estates community off State Road 44 west of Inverness.
"I don't want to rush to the statement that it was a murder-suicide," Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said. "But it looks that way now. We're not looking for anybody."
Officials identified the dead people as Meghan Bryde Durling, 20, of 701 Moray Dr., Inverness, and Troy Scott Truax, 28, of 1400 S Alto Verde Ter., which is where the shootings took place.
Durling and Truax were a former couple, officials said. Officials received a 911 call about 4:30 p.m. from a relative of one of the victims who said a verbal altercation was under way, sheriff's spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan said.
The call was not made from the Alto Verde home, she said.
"By the time the first deputy arrived, both victims were already deceased," she said.
Evan said Truax shared the duplex unit on Alto Verde with his parents; his grandmother and great-grandmother live in the adjoining unit.
Durling had a gunshot wound to the chest, while Truax had a gunshot wound to the head.
A shotgun was found near Truax's body, Evan said.
Bill Arber, a visitor staying at a house behind the shooting scene, said he heard three shots about 4:30 p.m.
The first two came about 20 seconds apart, followed by a third, muffled-sounding shot, he said.
"My wife heard some people talking -- not yelling, but speaking loud," Arber said. "Then it sounded like a firecracker."
The Colbert sisters, who live next door to the scene, were inside their home when they heard what they thought were two shots.
Felicia Colbert, 12, said it sounded like somebody was banging on the kitchen window.
Her sister Michelle, 13, did not think anything of the noise at first.
"I didn't think anybody would be out there because it was broad daylight," she said.
Neighbors knew little about the couple involved in the shooting, and knew even less about the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Neighbor Gary Cheeseman said he was sitting down to dinner when he heard the gunshots.
"What happened, I don't have a clue," he said.
- Times staff writer Bridget Hall Grumet and Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.