Law enforcement concur mother, daughter deaths were murder-suicide

As the investigation into the weekend deaths of a Poplar Bluff mother and her infant daughter continue, investigators agree their deaths were a murder-suicide.

Angela Lemonds, 31, and her 6-month-old daughter, Brooklynn Lemonds, died Sunday after suffering gunshot wounds.

“I concur with the coroner’s findings that the preliminary indications do indicate this would be a murder-suicide,” Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs said.

That determination was announced Monday by Butler County Coroner Andy Moore, whose basis was the evidence at the scene and the result of the autopsies.

Deputies and troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol had responded to Lemonds home in the 100 block of Township Line Road after a 911 call reporting a shooting was received by the Poplar Bluff Police Department at 9:29 a.m., Dobbs earlier said.

Upon arrival, Dobbs said, authorities found both mother and daughter had suffered gunshot wounds.

Angela Lemonds was pronounced dead at her home, while her daughter later died at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

“A thorough processing of the scene was done by our office and investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol,” Dobbs said.

Inside the home, Dobbs said, investigators found “lengthy, written documentation consisting of numerous pages and describing the reasons and intent for this situation.

“All of us on the investigative team, which consisted of our investigators, as well as highway patrol (investigators) are confident that this documentation was written by Mrs. Lemonds.”

In an investigation such as this, “every rock has to be turned over and every angle has to be looked at,” Dobbs said.

Investigators, the sheriff said, are taking advantage of technological evidence, such as cellphone downloads, to assist them.

“Both Mr. Lemonds and Mrs. Lemonds’ phones have been forensically downloaded and have provided us a great deal of incite into the situation,” Dobbs said.

Like on any investigation, “we try to tie in factual details with witness statements and make sure they match,” Dobbs said. “From an investigative point of view, it is evident to us, from the physical and documentary evidence and phone evidence, that the reporting party, who in this case was the husband and father of the child, (his) statements are factual.”

Dobbs said there is still a lot of work to do, and officers are waiting for results from gunshot residue tests and ballistics testing to be returned from the crime laboratories.

“In addition to those things, we are also doing background on potential medical or other health-related issues that may give us some incite into why this happened,” Dobbs said. “ … As I stated earlier, the investigation is ongoing, and we are a long ways from a conclusion, and we will keep an open mind about all aspects.”

Dobbs said he could go into “great detail” about what “makes us confident in our findings, but due to the sensitively of the situation and out of respect for the family, we’ve chosen to reserve that for potential private meetings with family members if they so choose.”