COHUTTA, Ga. - Two former Oneida residents are dead after a murder-suicide here Friday evening.
According to the Whitfield County (Georgia) Sheriff's Department, the bodies of 48-year-old Nancy Elaine Swain Watters and her estranged husband, 49-year-old Paul Watters, were discovered shortly before 11 p.m. on Friday evening. The department confirmed that the two were involved in an altercation when Watters shot his estranged wife once in the cest with a .44 magnum handgun before turning the gun on himself, fatally shooting himself in the head.
In a press release, the Sheriff's Office said that the couple's daughter, 23-year-old Ashley Watters, was with two friends in the basement of the residence when Watters entered the home and confronted Swain. Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon told the Chattanooga Times-Free Press that "he shot her in front of her daughter." The Times-Free Press reported that Watters had heard an altercation between her parents and had gone up to investigate.
The Sheriff's Office release stated that the handgun was recovered at the scene, as was Watters' pick-up truck, which was found hidden in a wooded area close to the house.
Swain and Watters were in the process of divorcing, and Watters had been living elsewhere while Swain resided at the couple's Cohutta residence, the Sheriff's Office said.
Swain was the daughter of W.H. (Bill) Swain, longtime local businessman, and sister of Mike Swain,
president and CEO of First National Bank. Funeral services for Swain were held on Monday.
Watters was the son of the late Beulis Price and Carol Faye (Strunk) Watters of Scott County. No date was immediately set for funeral services.
news@ihoneida.com
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