In the early morning hours of Friday, April 11, 2014, a sense of camaraderie turned to tragedy in the small village of Gays Mills, Wisconsin. Donald J. Macleod, a 29-year-old Caucasian male, was with two friends, 44-year-old Branston Haggerty and 42-year-old Diane Lynch. The trio had been at a local tavern, Halver's Town Tap, before relocating to Haggerty's nearby residence. What began as a social evening took a dark and unforeseen turn as the night progressed.
Inside the residence, a conversation reportedly veered towards Macleod's time in the military and his asserted fearlessness of death. According to statements later given by Haggerty and Lynch, Macleod picked up a. 22 caliber revolver that belonged to Haggerty. The two witnesses recounted a chilling sequence of events where Macleod allegedly spoke of not being afraid to play Russian roulette. They claimed he removed three bullets from the six-shot revolver, leaving every other cylinder empty. Then, while seated in a chair, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The resulting gunshot inflicted a fatal wound.
At approximately 3:50 a.m., the Crawford County Dispatch Center received a frantic 911 call from Branston Haggerty, stating that his friend had shot himself and needed medical attention. Emergency services, including the Ocooch Mountain Rescue Squad and deputies from the Crawford County Sheriff's Department, rushed to the scene. The sound of the gunshot had also awakened Haggerty's father, who was asleep in an upstairs bedroom. Donald Macleod was transported to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, where he succumbed to the gunshot wound to his head on Saturday, April 12, 2014.
In the aftermath, both Branston Haggerty and Diane Lynch were taken to the Crawford County Sheriff's Department for questioning. They were described by the sheriff as being cooperative and forthcoming in their statements about the incident and were subsequently released. To aid in the investigation, the Wisconsin State Crime Lab was called to process the scene, and the Wisconsin State Patrol reconstruction team was brought in to diagram the layout. An autopsy performed in Madison indicated preliminary results consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, noting a contact wound at the bullet's point of entry on his temple. No arrests were made in connection with the incident.
