Ind. Murder-Suicide Involves Firefighter, Paramedic

July 23--Emergency response workers in Monroe County were shocked Monday by news that a highly regarded firefighter apparently had shot and killed his longtime girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself.

A Bloomington police officer who served on the rescue dive team with 42-year-old William "Randy" Roudebush discovered his body and that of 48-year-old Kelly Emerick in the master bedroom of a house the two had shared at 3221 Reba Court, just southwest of Bloomington. Both were dead from gunshot wounds.

Emerick was a paramedic supervisor at IU Health Emergency Medical Transport Service based in Bloomington, where Roudebush worked part time supervising paramedics.

"Our hearts go out to their loved ones and coworkers," said hospital spokeswoman Amanda Roach said in an email statement. "The emergency services community is small and tight-knit; losing two of its members, especially in such a heartbreaking way, is obviously difficult." She said counseling was being provided to hospital employees.

Roudebush was a captain at the Perry-Clear Creek Fire Department, where he was a volunteer for several years before landing a full-time position in 2000. He was also employed the past several years as a part-time firefighter for the Ellettsville Fire Department and at the White River Township Fire Department in Johnson County. He was trained as a paramedic.

In 2011, Roudebush and two other Perry-Clear Creek firefighters were named Monroe County's Firefighters of the Year for their efforts in saving a man who had fallen through the ice on Lake Monroe.

Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer, who had known Emerick and Roudebush nine years, said an autopsy was performed on Emerick Monday. Dr. Roland Kohr was scheduled to do an autopsy on Roudebush Tuesday.

The two were not married but had lived together, according to Monroe County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Mike Pershing. He said no one else was at the residence when the shootings happened.

He said the sheriff's department sent a deputy to the home for a welfare check after receiving a 911 call about 6 a.m. George Connelly, a Bloomington police officer and trainer for the dive team, initially discovered the bodies. "He was good friends of the family and he happened to stop by to check on him (Roudebush) and our deputy was there as well," Pershing said. "It's normal for the dive team members to be close."

He would not say more about the apparent murder-suicide at this time, and is awaiting the autopsy results. "I do not have a report yet, and this is still under investigation on our end. We cannot say exactly what transpired," he said Monday evening. "My detectives are at the scene as we speak."

Bill Headley, division chief for the Ellettsville Fire Department, said he and other firefighters around the county are dismayed and saddened by what happened before dawn Monday on Reba Court. "It's one of those things we totally, totally would never expect to happen," he said. "I would say we are all still trying to get past the initial shock of this."

He and others described Roudebush as friendly and outgoing. He said emergency rescue workers are an "extremely tight-knit" group of men and women who draw strength from one another as they respond to the worst of life's situations. They do not, he said, expect to be called to scenes where their own are found dead.

EARLIER REPORT:

Police are investigating the deaths of a man and woman in Monroe County this morning in an apparent murder-suicide at the home the two shared.

Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer confirmed that 48-year-old Kelly Emerick and 42-year-old William "Randy" Roudebush were found dead at the scene of an early-morning shooting. She said it appears Roudebush shot Emerick, and then himself, at their home on Reba Court just southwest of Bloomington.

Meyer said Emerick was a paramedic supervisor at IU Health Bloomington Ambulance Service. Roudebush was a captain for the Perry-Clear Creek Fire Department and a firefighter for the Ellettsville Fire Department. He also worked at the hospital supervising paramedics, she said.

Autopsies on the two are scheduled in Terre Haute, one today and one Tuesday, Meyer said. She had known both victims for nearly a decade.

No details about the incident were available from police Monday morning. Monroe County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mike Pershing said his officers are conducting a death investigation, but that he had no further information.

Copyright 2013 - Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.