Mother in murder-suicide was 'struggling, depressed,' friends say
911: Mother's fiancé found both dead in basement
A murder-suicide in Butler County has left friends shocked and saddened.
Police said a Fairfield Township mother shot her adult daughter, who is developmentally disabled, and then killed herself.
A quiet, suburban street was interrupted by police lights and sirens Thursday night.
An emergency call to a home on Springcrest Drive was unusual, neighbors and police said.
"This was the first time on our record that we'd been called there for any, you know, any kind of event," Fairfield Township Police Chief Matt Fruchey said.
Thursday night's call was a horrific one.
The homeowner returned to his house around 9 p.m. to find his fiancé, 54-year-old Barbara Busch and her daughter, 24-year-old Cynthia Busch, dead.
They had been shot.
"I came down to the basement. Two gunshot wounds, my fiancé and her daughter. There's blood," the homeowner said in the 911 call.
Police said Barbara shot her daughter and then killed herself on the basement couch.
"(Cynthia) required a great deal of attention and care and it just appeared that from the evidence that we gathered and the information that we gathered that she was just overwhelmed," Fruchey said.
Friends said Barbara loved her daughter, but had been struggling lately. She was depressed and did not get the help she should have.
"People do get to their breaking point, and get to the point where they just, they feel there's no other alternative for them. It's a sad outcome," Fruchey said. One of the definitions of suicide is where the fear of life outweighs the fear of death. This is one of those situations where it looks like the mother got to that point."
Police said no one else was home at the time of the shooting.