In the quiet community of Oxford, Michigan, the life of 23-year-old Vanessa Joyce Ward was brought to a tragic end on April 8, 2006. She was a young woman caught in the midst of dissolving a marriage that had recently become strained. Vanessa had separated from her husband and initiated divorce proceedings just ten days prior to the incident that would claim her life.
On that Saturday, Vanessa met with her estranged husband, 38-year-old Donald Frederick Ward III, at his mother's home in
the Lake Villa mobile home park. The purpose of their meeting was to discuss the difficult matters of property and custody arrangements for their six-year-old daughter. To give the couple privacy, Donald's mother left them alone and went to her other son's nearby residence. An hour later, after receiving no answer to a phone call, she sent her other son to check on them, leading to a grim discovery.
Inside the bedroom of the home, both Vanessa and Donald were found deceased. The Oakland County Sheriff's Department determined that Donald had shot and killed Vanessa before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide. The weapon used, a 12-gauge shotgun, belonged to Donald's brother who had been storing it in his car and was unaware that Donald had taken it. Investigators learned that in the time leading up to the tragedy, Donald had made threatening phone calls to Vanessa.
The investigation into Vanessa's death concluded that Donald Ward was solely responsible, and therefore no arrests were made. It was revealed that Donald had a prior criminal record, including a conviction in 1990 for the disinterment and mutilation of a dead body. The couple's young daughter was with her paternal grandmother at the time of the incident and was not a witness to the violent events that transpired.
