Two found dead in murder-suicide pact identified

By Mary Manning

Published Friday, March 20, 2009 | 10:11 a.m.

Updated Friday, March 20, 2009 | 4:56 p.m.

A man and a woman found shot to death inside a Summerlin home at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday have been identified by the Clark County Coroner's Office.

The woman has been identified as 74-year-old Jeannette Ann Artman and the man is 76-year-old Joseph Theodore Artman, both of Las Vegas, the coroner's office said.

The cause of death in the case of Jeannette Ann Artman was a gunshot wound to the head and the coroner ruled the death a homicide, a spokeswoman for the coroner's office said. In the case of her husband, the cause was a gunshot wound to the head and the coroner ruled it a suicide.

The residence is in the 9900 block of Charlemont Drive, south of West Lake Mead Boulevard and east of Anasazi Drive. Homicide detectives investigated the shootings and determined it was an apparent murder-suicide, said Lt. Lewis Roberts of Metro's Homicide Section. The couple had suffered from medical problems, police said.

Metro Police said the man and the woman died in an apparent murder-suicide pact.

Officers found the couple dead after police went to the house to check on their welfare after getting calls from people worried about them, Roberts said.

When officers didn't receive a response from inside the residence, they gained entrance and an officer found the man and woman, both in their 70s, dead in a master bedroom, Roberts said. They each had a single gunshot wound to the head.