Man commits suicide after killing sick wife

A 75-year-old man has committed suicide while police forcefully gained access into his house in search of his missing wife.
The man left a note claiming he had killed her and buried her body in their backyard.

Laurence Caulfield was found dead on Tuesday night in the backyard of his Deltona, Florida home.

A search for the body of his wife Gail Caulfield, also 75, is ongoing.

Earlier on Tuesday, a female relative of the Caulfields in another state received a disturbing package in the mail, police said.

In the package was a letter from Laurence Caulfield saying his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, and that he'd been struggling to cope both physically and emotionally.

The package also contained the couple's will, life insurance policy, financial information and contact information for their doctors.

The relative, deeply alarmed, called Florida police around 9.15pm on Tuesday, saying she hadn't spoken with the Caulfields in several months and describing the package she'd received.

'The way it's been written is a concern - a strong concern,' the worried relative told police.

'He also has guns in the house, and I'm concerned,' she said.

Deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s department were dispatched to the home right away, and found Laurence Caulfield at home.

He told the cops that his wife did have Alzheimer's, and that she'd gone to stay with friends of the family in Kansas City.

When deputies pressed him for her contact information, Caulfield said he didn't know, but that his daughter in New Jersey would.

When the deputies called the daughter, she said she had no idea about her mother being in Kansas City. The daughter called her father Laurence Caulfield, who told her that her mother was asleep in their Florida home.

Concern mounting, the deputies returned to the Caulfield residence and began pounding on the door at around 10.27pm.

A gunshot rang out from the back of the house, and the deputies rushed to the back yard with weapons at the ready.

On the ground, they found Laurence Caulfield with a gunshot wound and a gun lying at his side. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 11.30pm.

When deputies searched the inside of the home for the missing wife, they found a small stack of papers which included the note from Laurence Caulfield.

The note claimed that he had killed his ailing wife and buried her in the backyard of their home.

On Wednesday, sheriff's deputies and forensic teams were seen in the backyard of the home.