Published: June 02, 2009 09:33 am      

Henryville couple dead after possible murder-suicide

Sheriff: Two were having financial troubles

A Henryville husband and wife were found dead in their home after 8 p.m. Monday evening in an apparent murder-suicide, police say.

Richard and Phyllis Ireland, of 932 Twin Oaks Drive in Henryville, may have both agreed to end their lives, Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden said. He said the man used a handgun to shoot his wife in the back and then himself in the chest.

“They kind of did it together,” he said. “It almost looked like it was a consensual thing.”

Rodden said the woman wrote a letter to their children Sunday night. He said the children were grown and no longer live with their parents.

He said the couple was going through a difficult time financially. They both had lost their jobs and were recently told they would have to go through an eviction process and would lose the house where they had lived for five years.

“It was a pretty sad deal,” Rodden said.