Lori Hedges Conners, a 61-year-old Caucasian female from Westbrook, Connecticut, died on September 6, 2018. Initially, her death was reported as a suicide. In the early hours of that day, her husband of 42 years, Kevin Conners, called 911 to report that his wife had taken her own life with a handgun shortly after they had gone to bed. He appeared emotional on the recorded call and was found pacing on the front steps when officers arrived.
Inside the home, authorities discovered Lori Conners with a gunshot wound to her left temple and a silver revolver on a pillow next to her.
However, the official cause of death was later determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. This finding was a result of an investigation by the Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad at Troop F in Westbrook. The investigation revealed inconsistencies in Kevin Conners' initial account of the events.
Following the investigation, Kevin Conners, a retired state corrections officer, admitted that he had assisted his wife in ending her life. He told investigators that he held the gun for his wife while she shot herself because he "loved his wife very much and couldn't watch her suffer like she was." Lori had been battling advanced and spreading cancer, as well as Lyme disease for 17 years. Her chemotherapy treatments were making her very ill and had diminished her will to live. She had expressed her desire to end her life and had written over a dozen "goodbye letters" to her family. In June 2019, Kevin Conners was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter for aiding his wife's suicide. He turned himself in to the police after a warrant was issued for his arrest and was held on a $50,000 bond.
