On December 31, 2016, 28-year-old Stacey Aubuchon was found deceased in her home in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Hers was a violent end to a life that, from the outside, may have seemed ordinary. Stacey, a Caucasian female, had been married to James Aubuchon for seven years, and the couple had two children, a son and a daughter, who were around 8 and 10 years old at the time.
The tragic discovery was made by officers from the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department, who responded to a call at their South Spring Avenue residence around 12:40 p.m. Inside, they found both Stacey and her 32-year-old husband, James, deceased. The subsequent investigation revealed the grim reality of what had transpired: James Aubuchon had shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide. Fortunately, their two children were not present during the incident and were later placed in protective custody.
While the motive behind the murder-suicide was not immediately clear to investigators, and there were no public reports of prior domestic violence, those closer to the situation had seen glimpses of a troubled relationship. Stacey's mother recalled her daughter complaining about her husband's increasingly critical behavior. This turmoil had led Stacey to move out of their home on two separate occasions in the months leading up to her death, though she had ultimately returned each time. A neighbor also noted that James seemed controlling, stating that he wouldn't allow Stacey to socialize with people outside of their home.
In the end, as the primary perpetrator was also deceased, the investigation into Stacey Aubuchon's death did not lead to any arrests or the identification of any other suspects. The case was closed as a murder-suicide, leaving behind a family shattered by loss and a community to mourn the tragic outcome of domestic turmoil.
