In the quiet early morning hours of February 20, 2019, a domestic dispute in a Florence, Arizona, home escalated into a tragic and fatal event. Cindy Marie VanWezel, a 42-year-old Caucasian woman, was shot and killed by her husband, 52-year-old John VanWezel, in what authorities would later describe as an apparent murder-suicide. The Pinal County Sheriff's Office received a call from a family member shortly before 2 a.m., reporting a heated argument between the couple at their residence on
North Hohokam Road.
According to the report made to law enforcement, the verbal altercation took a violent turn when John VanWezel fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. Deputies were dispatched to the scene, where they found the couple deceased. The incident sent ripples of shock through the community and left friends and family grappling with the sudden and devastating loss of a woman described as kind and compassionate.
Originally from Ninilchik, Alaska, Cindy had moved to Florence with her family in 2016. She was a mother to two sons and worked as an Account Tech for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office. In her personal time, she was a talented artist and the owner of Alaska Beadwork, a business through which she shared her handcrafted creations. Friends remembered her fondly for her love of reading, movies, and beadwork, but most of all for the time she cherished with her family. Her death, a result of gun violence, cut short the life of a beloved mother, daughter, sister, and friend.
