Woman and cat found dead in motel room
Elizabethtown, KY (US)

Incident Date: Saturday, Jun 25, 2011
County: Hardin

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Lonnie Franklin Daughtery

A Noblesville, Ind., man said he helped his wife commit suicide in a hotel room in Elizabethtown, according to Elizabethtown police.

Police released details and identities late Saturday regarding a death investigation that began Saturday afternoon after emergency responders were called to a local motel to investigate a report of two unresponsive occupants.

They found a man who had to be hospitalized and a woman who was dead.

The man, Lonnie F. Daughtery, 37, was wheeled out of the building on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to Hardin Memorial Hospital. A second empty stretcher was brought out.

Hardin County Emergency Medical Services supervisor Don Howard said Lonnie Daughtery was in critical condition, but a later report from Elizabethtown police said that he had only superficial wounds.

Sgt. Tim Cleary of the Elizabethtown Police Department said police found Lonnie Daughtery's wife, Michele D. Daughtery, 45, dead at the hotel.

Daugherty told police that night that his wife couldn't complete a suicide attempt by herself, so he strangled her to aid in the attempt, Cleary said.

Lonnie Daughtery also reportedly told police that he killed the couple's cat, which was found dead in the hotel room.

Cleary said Lonnie Daughtery didn't say why his wife wanted his help in committing suicide other than she couldn't do it herself.

He has been charged with murder and cruelty to animals in the first degree.

An autopsy will be conducted Sunday by the State Medical Examiner's Office. Investigators will compare those results with the account they currently have of what happened, Cleary said.

A Holiday Inn Express representative said the business would not comment.

In addition to police and emergency medical services, who received the call at 2:13 p.m., the Elizabethtown Fire Department and Hardin County coroner's office responded.

References

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