On the night of October 13, 2014, law enforcement officers from the Caruthersville Police Department were dispatched to a residence in Caruthersville, Missouri, following reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, authorities discovered a chaotic scene indicative of a domestic dispute that had escalated into violence. The investigation determined that 47-year-old Paula Hudgings and her husband, 52-year-old David Hudgings, had become involved in a heated argument earlier in the evening.
During the altercation, Paula reportedly asked David to leave the home.
In response to the request to vacate the premises, David Hudgings allegedly produced a firearm and opened fire. Investigators stated that he shot Paula in the back before turning the weapon on others in the home. Paula's 18-year-old daughter, Kortni Lewis, was also struck by gunfire during the rampage. David then fired at a witness present at the scene, though that individual was not hit. Following the attack on his family members, David Hudgings turned the gun on himself, inflicting a fatal self-inflicted wound.
Emergency responders attended to the victims, pronouncing David Hudgings dead at the scene. Paula Hudgings was urgently transported to a hospital in Hayti, Missouri, where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased on October 14, 2014. Her daughter, Kortni Lewis, sustained a critical gunshot wound to the arm and was airlifted to a hospital in Cape Girardeau for treatment. Because the sole suspect in the homicide, David Hudgings, died by suicide at the scene, the case was closed by authorities as a murder-suicide, and no arrests or criminal trials ensued.
