On a tragic evening in Winslow, Maine, the life of 30-year-old Sarah K. Ladabour Gordon, a Caucasian female, was cut short in an act of domestic violence. On June 6, 2011, Sarah made a desperate call to 911, reporting that her husband was threatening to kill her. In the background, he could be heard telling her to hang up the phone. This call for help was the prelude to a fatal confrontation outside her home on Marie Street.
Her husband, 32-year-old Nathaniel Gordon, chased her across
the street and shot her multiple times with a handgun. The couple's two young children, a son and a daughter then aged eight and nine, witnessed the horrific event from a window in their house. Following the shooting, Nathaniel fled the scene in his wife's car, sparking a police chase.
Law enforcement officers pursued Nathaniel Gordon along the Maine Turnpike. The chase came to an end in Gray when police used spike mats to deflate the tires of his vehicle. As his car came to a stop after hitting a guardrail, Nathaniel took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The deaths of Sarah and Nathaniel Gordon were officially ruled a murder-suicide by the state medical examiner's office.
Investigations into the tragedy revealed a history of conflict in the couple's relationship, with family members telling police that they argued frequently. However, there had been no prior calls to the police regarding domestic disputes at their residence. A critical detail that emerged during the investigation was a dispatch error that sent responding officers to the wrong address initially, costing valuable time. Sarah had worked as a medical assistant, and Nathaniel was a Maine National Guardsman who had served a tour in Iraq.
