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Las Vegas couple end lives outside Florida church where they married
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jul. 28, 2011 | 7:53 a.m.
Patricia and Bruce Wright were barely adults when they married forty years ago at a Charlotte County church in Florida.
On Sunday, the Las Vegas couple returned to the church -- not to reminisce, but to end their lives.
"It was a romantic tragedy," nephew Daniel Johnson, 28, said in a phone conversation Wednesday. "Life started for the two of them there, and that's officially where life ended for them."
A pastor found the couple about 7:30 a.m. Sunday under a tree behind Friendship United Methodist Church. A rifle and shotgun were beside their bodies.
Charlotte County police said the couple killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact.
Bruce Wright, 60, died at the scene. Patricia Wright, 57, died in a hospital Tuesday.
Johnson and three relatives -- including Patricia Wright's mother, older sister and brother -- drove together from Albuquerque, N.M., to Florida upon hearing about the shooting.
Johnson said his family had no answers to the inevitable question: Why?
"For us, it was a situation where we thought some things had gone bad in their lives. Maybe they went into debt, or the stock market kicked them around," Johnson said. "But in reality, we have no idea about their financial situation."
The Wrights were family, but not close family, he said.
Johnson last saw them two years ago, when the couple spoke of leaving Las Vegas and moving to California.
Johnson doesn't think they ever made it to California, however.
As of their last correspondence, both were in Las Vegas. Bruce Wright was working in sound production, and Patricia Wright was working at a hospital, he said.
"The next thing I know is we're being told they're in Punta Gorda, Florida, and they're deceased," he said.
Johnson said the couple had no children and rarely communicated with other family members, aside from the occasional letter.
He wouldn't classify the couple as drifters, although they had lived in Florida, Alaska and Washington, he said.
No records of property ownership in Clark County were found.
"I don't want to say they were black sheep because they weren't, but they were odd sheep," Johnson said.
On Wednesday, Johnson said his mother and grandmother were meeting with a funeral director in Florida and trying to arrange for Patricia Wright's organs to be donated.
Johnson expects the family will return to Albuquerque sometime next week, but he wasn't certain.
"It's taking awhile to sort everything out," he said.
Patricia Wright had five other siblings. She was survived by her mother; her father died last year.
Johnson said he didn't know much about Bruce Wright's side family, he said, or why the couple were in Florida.
Were they vacationing and made a spontaneous decision? Were they in debt? Were they ill?
"We want to figure out what's going on and put people at ease," Johnson said.
"But honestly, all we have is a few facts, and everything else is speculation."
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The truely sad part is that they may have loved eachother, but, they are probably burning in Hell right now, Suicide is an unforgivable sin that you can not repent from... truely sad.
this makes me cry! i give my sorrow to the family!
It's sad that some mean-spirited people have to constantly attack others, even in times of grief and loss. Hopefully any friends and relatives of the deceased will know not to give any respect to those lowlifes below who make those awful, cruel comments.
let the church clean up the mess? losers good riddance
as a single person with no family...yes my lineage will end with me...I'm sure there may come a time when I MAY choose to pick the time of my passing...there are just too many variables
there was a similar case here in the valley where a wife killed her terribly ill husband then herself because she did not wish or want to be without her love...we just can't judge what we do not know
Over the years I have occasionally seen couples that spent all their time together, and rarely talked to anyone else. I even remember seeing one or two couples that spent so much time together that they literally looked like each other! I suppose that in some ways that is unhealthy, but really I think a lot of the criticisms and complaints must come from lonely, jealous people who would like to have that successful a relationship in their own lives. @ Helen Weils: for once you have set politics aside, and said a wise, sensitive, compassionate thing. Please accept my sincere condolences for your loss.
Perhaps they loved each other very much and one of them was sick or dying and they wanted to stay together. I understand that, my husband of 33 years died almost 2 years ago. There are many days I wish I was with him. They had no children. Bless them, it was their choice to make.
They were just getting a head start on ObamaCare...
azsk89fan, The nephew Daniel Johnson,gave the information, "odd sheep","drifters" " rarely communicated with other family members, aside from the occasional letter."...Its all sad...maybe yu need to look into yourself..and forgive your sister...
Cindy H. your right on! "They were adventurers, explorers, unafraid of Change!'