- http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/6E94F46E1DF552EF862576CC005F1B2F?OpenDocument
Murder-suicide in Creve Coeur
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/16/2010
CREVE COEUR — Police said Monday that a daylong argument culminated in a man shooting his wife's disabled brother to death, and then himself, Sunday evening at the home they shared.
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Joseph Dehapre, 51, shot his brother-in-law, Joseph Meissert, 52, shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday as Meissert lay in a hospital-style bed in their family room, Creve Coeur police Capt. George Hodak said. Meissert was a paraplegic.
Dehapre's wife, 51, was home but not injured, police said. They did not release her name.
Neighbors told reporters they frequently heard loud arguments in the brick ranch home in the 700 block of Ambois Drive.
Meissert's father had once lived with him in the house, neighbors said. They said that after the father died, Meissert's sister and her husband moved in.
Police said they had responded to a disturbance at the home in November and had been there other times to assist with medical emergencies.
Hodak said Dehapre's body was found on the floor near Meissert's bed. A handgun was recovered and believed to have been used in the killings. Police were trying to trace its ownership.
Officials said someone in the house called for help shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday.
Hodak said investigators believe that the argument began earlier in the day, and that Dehapre left for a while and returned and the dispute continued.
The scene is only about two blocks from another recent murder in a community that sees relatively little violent crime. That was the Dec. 16, 2008, slaying of Susan Schaffer, 48, a single mother of three who was shot to death when she interrupted a burglary at her home in the 12900 block of Nimes Drive. Two men are awaiting trial in her killing.
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