Austin man killed wife, lived with her body for 25 days, police say

[mike r]

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/man-killed-wife-lived-with-her-body-for-909317.html

Man killed wife, lived with her body for 25 days, police say
By Claudia Grisales and Claire Osborn

An Austin man shot and killed his wife and lived with her body for 25 days before a relative became suspicious, police said Friday. A Travis County grand jury indicted John Malcolm Nordstrom III, 63, on Thursday on a murder charge after hearing evidence regarding the death of his wife, Deborah Diane Gordon, 58. Nordstrom was booked into jail Thursday and was being held on bail of $200,000, said police Cmdr. Julie O'Brien. Nordstrom refused to talk to police, O'Brien said. Investigators did not know the motive in the slaying, she said.

Police were called to the Northeast Austin home where Nordstrom and Gordon lived on Aug. 30 after one of Nordstrom's son reported smelling a suspicious odor coming from the residence in the 1900 block of Rogge Lane, according to a search warrant issued last week. That evening, Nordstrom's son told police he went to the home and noticed his father was sitting in his running vehicle inside the home's closed garage, police said. The son banged on the garage door, and that's when Nordstrom opened the front door, the search warrant said. The son asked his father what was going on and his father "replied that the house was being foreclosed on in a week and a half," the warrant said.

The son also asked "Nordstrom III if Deborah was alive and he replied no," according to the warrant. The son told police that he "could smell the potent odor of death," the warrant said. The son called 911, and paramedics found Gordon on a love seat covered by a sheet, police said. She had died as a result of a gunshot to the head, the warrant said. Police also found a suicide note written to Nordstrom's two sons signed by "your adoring father," according to the document...

Police think she was killed about Aug. 5. The son said he had been trying to reach his father but the phone was shut off, which he believed was due to financial reasons, the search warrant said...