In the quiet, early morning hours of Sunday, September 6, 2020, 79-year-old Marjorie Oberheim Degnan, a White female, passed away in Montpelier, Idaho. Responding to a call about a firearm injury, deputies from the Bear Lake County Sheriff's Office arrived to find her deceased from a single gunshot wound. Her husband, 88-year-old Robert Dwight Degnan, was present at the scene and was subsequently arrested in connection with her death.
The investigation that followed led to a charge of first-degree murder against him.
Robert Degnan told authorities a story of a planned suicide pact between himself and his wife of 57 years. He claimed that they had been planning their deaths for six months and had intentionally kept this from their family. According to his account, he was to shoot Marjorie first because she was unfamiliar with firearms. He cited his own failing health, including a "wasting disease" and severely limited eyesight, as part of their reasoning. He alleged that after he shot his wife around 4 a.m., the force of the gunshot blinded him, and he lost the gun. It was more than two hours later that he contacted 911. Investigators found no suicide note at the residence.
Following his arrest, Robert Degnan was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. Court proceedings were initiated, with a jury trial scheduled for May of the following year. However, Robert Degnan passed away in October 2021, before the trial could take place. Marjorie was remembered by her family as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother who had a passion for gardening, cooking, and traveling, particularly to the Caribbean island of St. Martin. She and her husband, a physician, had raised eight children together, moving across several states before settling in Idaho.
