Editor’s note: This article by Bennington Banner staff was first published in the Banner Nov. 15, 2016.
SHAFTSBURY — Detectives from the Shaftsbury barracks of the Vermont State Police and the Major Crime Unit continue to investigate what they had described as an apparent murder-suicide on Shaftsbury Hollow Road, police said in a release on Monday.
Capt. JP Sinclair, chief criminal investigator of the VSP Major Crime Unit, said that the crime scene search team had completed processing and documentation of the scene. On Friday, police said Olanda Fitz, 28, of Shaftsbury, and Trevor Gardner, 38, of Hoosick Falls, New York, were found dead with gunshot wounds.
Sinclair said Monday that Fitz was found lying on the ground outside of his residence, and autopsy results confirmed that he died of a gunshot wound to his chest.
He said Gardner was found sitting in the driver’s seat of his truck, and an autopsy confirmed that he died of a gunshot wound to the head, consistent with a self-inflicted wound.
A 30-30 rifle was recovered in the truck with Gardner’s body, police said, and no weapons were found on Fitz or near his body.
The investigation has thus far shown that Gardner had driven to the residence of Fitz on Nov. 11 and was reportedly upset with Fitz regarding Fitz’s involvement with his (Gardner’s) girlfriend.
Investigation to this point has shown that there were no other subjects involved in this matter, police said.
The investigation will continue with forensic lab testing of evidence gathered at the scene to finalize the findings above, police said.
On Friday, troopers were called to the scene at the 600 block of Shaftsbury Hollow Road at about 12:30 p.m. Police had been notified that two deceased men had been found on the property.The state Major Crime Scene Unit was at the rural site into the evening. The property included a small mobile home, a handful of outbuildings and a field.