UPDATE: Father, Son Take Lives Hours Apart
Mentone and Atwood fire departments were called just before midnight to 1421 S. 800 W. near Mentone. The house on the property was fully engulfed in flames.
The initial call went out at approximately 11:40 p.m. Scanner traffic indicated a subject at the home was suicidal and threatened to start the house on fire. Earlier in the day, police were called to that same residence where an 18-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to the home at 12:29 p.m. Monday. Officers and detectives discovered Nicholas D. Lowry, 18, had apparently taken his own life. Detectives stated Nicholas had just returned home from the Burket Educational Center where he had been a student.
At 11:42 p.m. the Kosciusko County Central Dispatch Center received a 9-1-1 call of a house fire at that same location. KCSD officers also discovered David D. Lowry, 53, the father of Nicholas, deceased at a picnic table from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Firemen from Mentone, Atwood, Etna Green, Burket, and Claypool responded to extinguish the fire that consumed the residence and all out-buildings. The investigation is still on going at this time between detectives from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police and the Kosciusko Major Crimes Task Force.