Suspect in Mich. sisters’ slayings is found dead


July 18, 2012 at 9:06a.m.

Suspect in Mich. sisters’ slayings is found dead

DETROIT (AP) — Police say an Ohio man charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend and her pregnant sister in Michigan fatally shot himself in a remote West Virginia cabin after seeing U.S. marshals closing in on him.

Michigan State Police Lt. Sean Furlong says the federal marshals heard a gunshot then found 38-year-old Thomas Fritz dead in the Sistersville, W.Va., cabin Tuesday night.

Police say the Sylvania, Ohio, man shot his ex-girlfriend, Amy Merrill, her pregnant 24-year-old sister, Lisa Gritzmaker, and their mother, Robin Lynn McCowan, on Friday at the Blissfield, Mich., home he and Merrill shared until recently.

Only McCowan survived. She is recovering from her wounds at a hospital.