Local News

Fayetteville couple found dead in Kansas hotel room

A couple from Fayetteville was found dead Thursday in a Kansas hotel room in what appears to be a murder-suicide, according to KCTV News in Kansas City.
Posted 2013-07-12T02:00:04+00:00 - Updated 2013-07-18T20:45:56+00:00
Couple from Fayetteville area found dead in Kansas hotel

A Fayetteville couple was found dead Thursday in a Kansas hotel room in what authorities are calling an apparent murder-suicide, according to KCTV News in Kansas City.

The housekeeping staff at a Holiday Inn Express in Bonner Springs, Kan., found Lacie Martinez and Michael James Jr., both in their early 20s, surrounded by blood around noon Thursday, the station reported.

Authorities are calling it a murder-suicide, but they didn't say who killed whom. 

Martinez's father, Richard Martinez, said detectives told him that James shot Martinez before turning the gun on himself.

The couple was passing through the Bonner Springs area on their way to Seattle to visit James' mother, Richard Martinez said. 

Authorities are waiting on autopsy results and have not commented on a cause of death or a possible motive.

Richard Martinez said his daughter and James were "good kids" who had been together for about a year. He said both families are heartbroken and have no idea what could have happened.

Credits