A Texas man allegedly beat his wife to death before turning the gun on himself on Christmas eve, December 24. Authorities noted that Arsenio Gonzalez, 45, and wife Maria, 42, were found dead at around 1 am on Christmas morning in the front lawn of the family's trailer home on the 5600 block of Daun Street in Houston. The couple's five children, aged 7 to 16 were found inside the trailer home.
According to DailyMail, police noted that while Maria was found with significant head trauma, Arsenio had a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police also recovered a gun at the scene. Sgt. Greg Pinkins of the Harris County Sheriff's Office noted that the incident occurred after the family of seven returned from a party earlier on Christmas Eve. An investigation is going on to establish a cause behind the alleged murder-suicide.
Authorities are now interviewing family members present at the Christmas Eve party attended by Arsenio and Maria along with their kids in an attempt to establish a motive behind the heinous crime. Child Protective Services (CPS) were called to help the kids and find them a safe and healthy living environment, possibly with other family members.
Murder-suicide
"We'll continue to do our investigation here and we'll be talking to family members who were probably at the party to see if we can get some background," Pinkins said. The identities of the children were not immediately clear. No injuries to the children were reported in the incident. Authorities noted that Arsenio beat his wife to death and then killed himself. The EMS pronounced both of them dead on the scene.
In a similar incident earlier this month, a 64-year-old man fatally shot a woman before turning the gun on himself in an alleged murder-suicide leaving behind a 12-year-old son in North Carolina. The deceased was identified as Dimitre Dimitrov, who was going through a divorce proceeding with the woman he fatally shot. The couple was also undergoing a bitter custody battle for their 12-year-old son at the time.
