A 42-year-old Seymour woman shot and killed her husband Wednesday morning before turning the gun on herself, investigators report.
That finding came from autopsies performed on Brandi Jo Jackson, 42, and her husband, Jason K. Jackson, 42, on Friday morning in Seymour, according to Jackson County Coroner Roger Wheeler.
Wheeler said Jason Jackson’s cause of death was ruled a homicide, and his wife’s death was ruled a suicide after the autopsies conducted by Dr. Thomas Sozio, a forensic pathologist from Indianapolis.
Both Jacksons died of single gunshot wounds to the chest area, Wheeler said.
Detective Bob Lucas, a crime scene investigator with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, said the incident remains under investigation, and he declined to discuss a motive.
The Jacksons’ son, Damian Jackson, found his parents dead of gunshot wounds Wednesday after he returned from work to the home he shared with them at 5990 Spring Meadow Lane in the Martha’s Vineyard subdivision northeast of Seymour. He called 911 at 4:29 p.m.
Damian Jackson told police he had left for work in Bloomington sometime before 5 a.m. Wednesday, Detective Ben Rudolph said.
Rudolph said Jason Jackson worked in the Seymour area, while Brandi Jo Jackson worked in Columbus. Both were expected at work that day, he said.
No one called the sheriff’s department Wednesday asking police to check on the Jacksons, Lucas said.
Lucas said he believes the two died sometime around 6:30 a.m., but he hopes to know more when Sozio completes his reports in about 2½ weeks and toxicology comes back several weeks from now.
Lucas said police recovered a .40 S&W Beretta pistol, which was used in the shootings, shell casings and notes from the shooter at the scene.
Officers canvassed the area around the Jacksons’ home, and no one reported hearing anything, Lucas said.
There were no records police had ever been called to the house in the past for any domestic issues, Lucas said.
The couple, who were married in 1992 after graduating from Brownstown Central High School in the spring of that year, purchased their home in Seymour in January 2016. They previously had lived in Brownstown.
Lucas said the sheriff’s department has not investigated another murder-suicide since he joined the force full time in 2000. In January 2009, 39-year-old Bryon S. Bradley shot and killed his wife, Nancy Michele Bradley, at their home in Dudleytown. Bradley attempted to shoot himself to death, failed and later was sentenced to 55 years in prison for his wife’s death.
Lucas said Tozio told investigators it is really unusual to have a case where a female is the shooter.
Detective Tom Barker, other officers with the sheriff’s department and Seymour detectives C.J. Foster and Greg O’Brien assisted with the investigation. Medical personnel with Jackson County Emergency Medical Services also assisted at the scene.