In a quiet East Falls Church neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, the lives of a long-married couple came to a tragic end in what authorities have described as a murder-suicide. On the afternoon of July 24, 2017, police responded to a welfare check at a residence on North Quantico Street. Inside, they discovered the bodies of 82-year-old Terry Lynn Matsumoto and her 81-year-old husband, Masao Matsumoto.
Both had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
Authorities quickly determined the incident to be isolated, assuring the community that there was no broader threat. The investigation into the circumstances leading to the deaths pointed towards a grim conclusion: that Masao Matsumoto had shot his wife before taking his own life. While the official determination of the cause of death was left to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Arlington County Police Department's Homicide/Robbery Unit investigated the case as a murder-suicide, with Terry Lynn Matsumoto identified as the victim and her husband as the perpetrator. No arrests were made as the sole suspect was also deceased.
Neighbors remembered the Matsumotos, who had lived in their red-brick home for a half-century, as a quiet and highly private couple. Terry, a former administrative assistant at the Federal Communications Commission, was often described as the more outgoing of the two. Masao, a retired economist, was seen as more reserved. Those who knew them expressed shock and puzzlement over the violent end to their lives. Some acquaintances noted that Terry Lynn Matsumoto had been contending with health issues prior to her death. In the days following the incident, a small memorial of flowers and messages appeared on the front stoop of their home, a somber tribute to the couple whose private struggles culminated in a tragedy that stunned their quiet suburban community.
