Rocky Mountain News (CO)
July 14, 1998
Author: Rocky Mountain News Staff
Preliminary autopsy results on the bodies of a Ken Caryl Ranch couple revealed what investigators had suspected last week; a murder-suicide.
But evidence in the case also lead them to a surprising conclusion. Although a gun was found in Donna Dashner’s right hand, investigators now believe it was her husband, Ronald, who shot his wife first and then killed himself.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Davis offered no explanation as to how the gun ended up in Donna Dashner’s hand. But he said evidence in the case points to Donald Dashner shooting his 46-year-old wife before killing himself with a gunshot to the forehead.
Donald Dashner, 45, recently had been under a physician’s treatment for depression and had been on medication.