Kaylin Ray, 69, a White/Caucasian female, was discovered dead inside her home in Ravalli County after deputies conducted a welfare check on the evening of May 7, 2017. Investigators determined that she had been shot and killed by her husband, 75-year-old Wesley Coffin, who then turned the gun on himself. The scene lay quiet east of Corvallis, a few miles from Hamilton, where deputies arrived around 10 p.m. and found the couple, prompting a homicide investigation that quickly focused on the domestic nature of the tragedy.
Public records and obituaries list Ray's passing as having occurred earlier that weekend at her home, with family notices memorializing her life and roots while authorities continued to piece together the final timeline.
Even as neighbors and loved ones prepared services, the sheriff's office emphasized that the facts indicated a murder-suicide within the residence rather than an outside intrusion.
With the suspected shooter deceased at the scene, no arrests followed. The investigation centered on confirming the sequence of events and extracting lessons to help prevent similar incidents, but it did not identify additional suspects beyond Coffin. Officials publicly named both victims days later, closing the investigative loop for the community while leaving the private “why” largely unanswered.
