Deputies suspect murder-suicide after elderly couple found dead

DONNA — Investigators believe a retired minister fatally shot his Alzheimer’s disease-stricken wife before he apparently took his own life, authorities said.

A property manager at Palm Shadows RV Park, 200 N. Valverde Road, discovered James and Pauline “Polly” Brown’s bodies inside the living room of their mobile home along Date Palm Drive early Monday afternoon, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño. The manager told deputies the elderly couple had not been seen for several days.

Investigators believe Jim Brown, 81, fatally shot his wife in the head before he turned the revolver on himself, Treviño said.

“It appears it is going to lead toward a murder-suicide,” the sheriff said of the homicide investigation, adding that no signs of forced entry were found at the residence.

Authorities did not confirm the victims’ identities, but neighbors confirmed the wooden “Jim and Polly Brown” sign on the home correctly identified the deceased couple. The couple had also registered to vote from their property at the RV park, records show.

Neighbors said Polly Brown, 78, suffered from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and her condition had worsened recently.

Paul Scheibner, an 81-year-old retired Methodist minister from Michigan, stopped his three-speed bicycle near the Browns’ home while investigators worked the crime scene.

“Few people were kinder and more gentle and soft spoken than Jim Brown,” said Scheibner, who knew the couple the past six years. “Maybe he just couldn’t see anything good in the future.”

The apparent murder-suicide marks the 23^rd suspected murder investigated by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office this year. Local law enforcement detectives have investigated at least 43 suspected murders in 2009.

It remained unclear Monday evening where the Browns originally lived before migrating to the Rio Grande Valley’s warmer climate, but one neighbor said relatives were expected to visit from the north over the holidays.

Other neighbors, who were hesitant to be quoted, said they were shocked after learning the Browns had apparently taken their own lives, saying they were seen late last week around the palm tree-laced RV park that mostly Winter Texans call home.

“It’s hard to imagine where you’d have to put your spouse away to prevent more suffering,” the 81-year-old Scheibner said.