Police say Matthew VanWaus, 38, and his wife Leah VanWaus, 31, drove to a secluded cemetery in Victor, Iowa, parked their car and killed themselves.


Both Mr and Mrs VanWaus shot themselves individually, according to police, ending their lives together on Friday, May 11.


The small town of Victor, which has a population of less than a thousand, was shaken by the mysterious double suicide.


'He was a good man, well-liked and respected, and he will be greatly missed in Eldridge,' said James Martin, who spoke of the couple fondly to the Mail Online.


'We were all saddened and shocked to hear of his and his wife’s deaths.'


Police told the Mail Online that they responded to a call of an apparent double suicide shortly after 6 a.m. on Friday.


Family members located the couple's unoccupied vehicles parked in a Victor Cemetery and after a search of the area, deputies found the bodies of Matthew and Leah VanWaus.


Police are still investigating the incident which shook the city.



Respects: Services for Mr VanWaus will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 17, at St. Bridget Catholic Church in Victor

'Matt is the last person I would have picked for doing something like this,' former colleague John Dowd told the North Scott Press.

'I am absolutely shocked.'


The couple was married on October 16, 2004 and moved to Davenport, Iowa shortly thereafter.


For the past nine years, Mrs VanWaus served as human resource and telecommunications executive for Shaw Electric Inc. in Davenport.


'Matt is the last person I would have picked for doing something like this.'
John Dowd

Mr VanWaus was the assistant city administrator for the city of Eldridge for seven years until last May.


Mr Dowd said that after Mr Van Waus left his position with the city, he lost touch with him.

'We were all surprised when he left Eldridge, and after he left he really didn’t keep in contact with us. We never had any real personal news from him,' Mr Dowd said.


Services for Mr VanWaus will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 17, at St. Bridget Catholic Church in Victor while the funeral in Mrs VanWaus’s honor will be at 10 a.m. Friday, May 18, at Linn Grove Church, 200 Linn Grove Rd., Mount Vernon.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145527/Couple-commits-double-suicide-small-town-cemetery-shocking-community.html#ixzz1v7OVpyJd