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MURDER-SUICIDE SHOCKS FAIRVIEW State police investigate complaint filed before murder-suicide occurred at Fairview Beach Date published: 10/6/2009
By PAMELA GOULD Susan and David Puckett said their father was in the final stage of cancer when he drove his John Deere Gator five blocks to his former girlfriend's Fairview Beach house and killed her and then himself Saturday night. They said he had filed a criminal complaint against his former live-in girlfriend and former employee weeks ago. And in a suicide note he blamed the inaction of King George County officials for what he was about to do. Virginia State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar confirmed yesterday that an agent was investigating a complaint filed by Jerry Puckett against Rita Lund. Lund, 59, had lived with Puckett, 70, at his home on Dauphin Landing near the Potomac River for about 16 years but had moved out at the end of August, Susan Puckett and David Puckett said yesterday. Puckett's children spoke openly about their father and his final act, but King George officials had little to offer yesterday as the investigation continued into a case with more twists than the roads to Fairview Beach. Puckett's children, who are both adults, said Jerry Puckett contacted the King George Sheriff's Office days after Lund left and after he had begun sorting through the company books. Jerry Puckett and his son operated Puckett Brothers Construction and Lund had served as secretary for about 10 years. David Puckett said the King George Sheriff's Office and Commonwealth's Attorney's office recused themselves from the investigation because Lund was related to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Pollard. Pollard also has a home in Fairview Beach, about one block from where the shooting occurred Saturday. Yesterday, Pollard and King George Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Britton were at the scene of what deputies suspect was a murder-suicide. Neither would comment on the accusations leveled by Puckett in his suicide note. About 8:30 p.m. Saturday, deputies and firefighters responded to a waterfront house at Fifth Street and Fairview Drive after getting a report of a break-in in progress with shots fired. When deputies arrived they noticed smoke inside the single-story house and discovered a fire. They rescued a woman and, after the fire was extinguished, found two people dead in the basement.
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