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LOGAN — A husband and wife were found dead from an apparent murder-suicide inside their Logan home Friday after a local newspaper received a letter describing a possible "tragedy."
The Logan Herald Journal received a handwritten letter this week from Dell Andrew Johnson, 82, that raised enough concern that the newspaper contacted police around 10 a.m. Friday, said Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen.
Officers agreed that the contents of the letter necessitated a welfare check. They eventually entered the home at 1616 Sunset Drive to find the couple dead from gunshot wounds, Jensen said.
Investigators believe Johnson shot and killed his wife, Mary Flyn Palley, 73, then killed himself.
The letter was dated March 8. It stated "in a disjointed fashion that a 'tragedy' may have occurred or was about to happen. It placed responsibility for the tragedy on several prominent individuals in the Cache Valley community," the newspaper reported.
The Herald Journal later indicated 20 community figures in all were identified in the letter.
A copy of a typed letter was also sent to the New York Times along with a $1,000 check made out to that newspaper for investigation into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Herald Journal reported. In that letter, Johnson criticized the LDS Church's tax-exempt status, according to the newspaper.
LDS Church officials said Friday they had no comment on the case.
"(Johnson) had some frustrations with the LDS Church, frustrations with government in general, and frustrations with some businesses in the Cache Valley community," Jensen said.
He didn't provide additional details about the contents of either letter. The Herald Journal reported the handwritten letter alluded to discouragement over the wife's health.
In a prepared statement, the Herald Journal said the contents of the letter "suggest(ed) the letter writer might have taken or was planning to take his wife's and his own life."
Per HJ, letter ended "I took my wife"..."with me because her advancing Parkinson's was robbing her of her mental faculties..." (1/2)
— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) March 12, 2016
Letter to HJ (cont.'d) "...and filling her life with frustration and despair." (2/2)
— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) March 12, 2016
Officers originally knocked at the home after being contacted by the paper, Jensen said, but nobody answered the door.
"(Officers were) unable to make contact with anyone at the residence, but were able to see a person in the home that was not responding to officers knocking on the door," the police department said in a statement.
Police then secured a warrant to enter the home as part of a welfare check, which is when they discovered the bodies.
It wasn't clear Friday how long the couple had been dead when they were found. Jensen said the newspaper first received the letter either Wednesday or Thursday, though there was some confusion about the exact day. The Herald Journal said in its statement that "it appears the forewarned tragedy occurred before we received the letter."
The chief said detectives are not looking for any outstanding suspects. A second warrant was being sought to go through the house to collect additional evidence, he said.
Jensen declined to answer several questions, including when Johnson and Palley were last seen alive, where in the house they were found or whether there appeared to be signs of a struggle.
The Herald Journal detailed its decision to contact police rather than the author of the letter.
"We contemplated phoning the letter writer himself in an effort to find out what was going on, but then decided the best course of action would be to phone police and ask them to do a welfare check at the man's home," the newspaper's statement reads. "Shortly thereafter, we heard the news on the police scanner that there were two deceased individuals found at the home, and we quickly transitioned from being part of the news to covering the news."
Neighbor Julie Jones said she knew Johnson and Palley ande called the couple "gracious" and "kind." She said Friday she was stunned to find out what happened.
"They always took the time to acknowledge you as a person when you were around them," Jones said. "(They) always wanted to know how you were doing, always gave hugs."
Contributing: Mike Anderson, Andrew Adams
