Citrus: Woman's death leaves family perplexed

Woman's death leaves family perplexed

Meghan Durling's family members thought she was turning her life around and don't understand how she ended up dead at her ex-boyfriend's home.

By PATRICK COOPER AND BILL VARIAN

INVERNESS -- Meghan Durling was getting her life back together, moving into her own apartment this week, her family said Tuesday.

What her family doesn't understand is why the 20-year-old ended up Monday afternoon at the home of Troy Scott Truax, the former boyfriend she had been trying to avoid. There, in the driveway of 1400 S Alto Verde Drive, Truax shot Durling and then killed himself, Citrus County sheriff's investigators believe.

Authorities were still trying on Tuesday to piece together the events immediately leading up to the apparent murder-suicide.

"We can't shed any new light on what transpired (Monday)," said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan. "Our investigation in still continuing into this tragedy."

Court records show that it wasn't the first time that law enforcement was summoned because of a dispute between Truax and Durling. Truax, 28, was arrested in May 1999 for allegedly beating Durling, his then-pregnant girlfriend, though prosecutors later declined to pursue charges when Durling recanted her story.

Durling's family said she left their house at 701 Moray Drive in the Windermere area of Inverness about 4 p.m. Monday, after picking up some belongings for her new apartment. According to Sheriff's Office records, a 911 call came at 4:13 p.m., warning police that a verbal altercation between a man and a woman was occurring at Truax's house in western Inverness.

The call came from a cellular phone dialed by Truax's father, Scott Truax, who was not at the home, Evan said. Evan was unable to say how he knew of the altercation, though the caller said he was concerned it could turn physical. Truax's father told dispatchers that he was not aware of any weapons being involved, Evan said.

But a deputy arrived at the Alto Verde home 14 minutes after the call only to find Durling and Truax lying dead with gunshot wounds in the driveway, a shotgun on the ground nearby.

Daria Durling said her daughter and Truax had broken up in September, and Meghan had been trying to avoid him. "(Meghan) was just afraid of him," she said.

After leaving Troy, Meghan wanted to get her life back together, her mother said. "She was just starting to do that."

Durling, a 1998 graduate of Citrus High School, was taking classes at Central Florida Community College and was hoping to be accepted into the program to become a dental hygienist. It was a profession Durling had wanted to join since her junior year of high school, her mother said.

"She knew what she wanted, and she was trying to go after it," her father, Peter, said.

Meghan and Troy had a baby girl together -- Molly -- but Meghan let her parents adopt the child, who turned 1 on Jan. 31. She also had been working as a waitress at the Inverness Applebee's restaurant for several months.

Her brother Michael, 25, said she was "just a wonderful person" and also "very independent, very strong-willed."

"She was strong enough to give the baby to us," Daria Durling said.

It was unclear Tuesday whether Truax was employed. He lived at the home in the Alto Verde duplex with his parents. A grandmother and great-grandmother lived in an adjoining unit, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Truax's family members declined to comment.

In May 1999, Truax was arrested on a charge of battery on a pregnant person after Durling reported that he punched and slapped her, shoved her into a window and threw a shoe at her.

The fight started during a dispute over bills. The arrest report indicates that Durling and Truax were living together at the time.

A deputy took the report from Durling's workplace, where her uniform shirt was ripped and she had a slightly red and swollen right cheek.

Durling told the deputy that Truax told her he would find her and kill her before a co-worker arrived to take her to her job. She was a little more than a month pregnant at the time with his child.

But court records show that Durling later recanted her story, telling authorities she didn't want Truax prosecuted. He had told the deputy he didn't hit her, but merely shoved her away as she struck him, according to his arrest report.

Truax faced an aggravated domestic battery charge out of Marion County in 1992 involving another woman, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. Those charges also were abandoned, though details of the arrest were not immediately available.

He also was arrested that same year on misdemeanor charges of marijuana and paraphernalia possession in Citrus County. Those charges, too, were abandoned, state records show.

Durling did not appear to seek a domestic battery injunction against Truax, according to a review of Citrus County court records.

But, in 1992, Truax sought and received an injunction for protection from another ex-girlfriend, claiming she had attacked him on repeated occasions. As evidence, he cited a couple of law enforcement reports, one in which he claimed the ex-girlfriend assaulted him as she attempted to retrieve belongings from a home they shared. But witness statements taken by investigators indicated he was the aggressor, striking the young woman repeatedly and calling her names as he made off with some of her possessions.

"I think he was very troubled," Daria Durling said. "I feel very sorry for his parents. They're very nice people."

She and Truax's mother had worked together once, she said. "I'm sure they're just as devastated as we are. The whole thing's just a tragedy."