Murder-suicide is suspected in the deaths of a recently divorced couple in Fergus Falls, Minn., authorities said Thursday.
Sarah Cheshire, 41, and Ryan Cheshire, also 41, were found dead of gunshot wounds in Ryan's apartment late Wednesday. The two, who had lived separately since a recent divorce, were prominent attorneys in the area, according to authorities and local media outlets.
Police said it appears that Ryan Cheshire fatally shot his ex-wife, then himself. The two had three children. Authorities did not say where the children were at the time of the shootings.
Sarah Cheshire was an attorney with the Fergus Falls law firm of Karkela, Hunt & Cheshire. On Thursday, the firm said on its Facebook page, "It is with deep sadness that we announce that our friend and colleague, Sarah Cheshire has passed away. Our firm family is grieving this tragic loss."
According to KFGO Radio, Ryan Cheshire was an assistant Otter Tail county attorney and the son of Robert Cheshire, a deputy U.S. marshal from Bismarck, N.D., who was killed in a February 1983 shootout with tax protester Gordon Kahl near Medina, N.D. In 1993, when Ryan was 16, his younger brother was killed in a crash caused by a drunken driver, local media said.
Sarah Cheshire was the daughter of an attorney from Bottineau, N.D., and the sister of a Bottineau County judge.
A family member said that family members had worried about the Cheshires' troubled relationship for several years.
STAFF REPORTS
