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RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A man who became a suspect in his wife's disappearance after he abandoned her 3-year-old son in a store committed suicide a day after he was freed on bail, police said Wednesday.
Police said Lyle Montgomery, 42, shot himself to death shortly before midnight. His roommate called police to the residence.
Police spokeswoman Susi Havens said on Wednesday that investigators were continuing to compile information and additional details might be forthcoming later in the day.
Montgomery was released from jail Monday, four days after a judge reduced his bail from $2.5 million to $150,000.
Conditions of his release mandated that Montgomery stay with a friend, make daily reports to court officials and adhere to the medication and therapy ordered by a doctor.
His family arranged the release through a bail bond company, attorney Scott Freeman said.
"The last time we spoke was yesterday. He was very confident with his case," Freeman said, adding that he dropped him off about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the residence where he killed himself.
"I had no idea that this was coming. Something very wrong happened between 5:30 and 11:30."
Montgomery is suspected of killing his wife, Jeannette Corpuz, who has been missing since mid-January.
Montgomery has not been charged in his wife's disappearance, though investigators have said they believe he killed her.
He was being held on charges resulting from allegations that he pulled a gun on Corpuz in October as she tried to remove items from their home.
Montgomery became a suspect after authorities found Corpuz's son abandoned in a ShopKo store in Salt Lake City on Jan. 25. The child now is living with his biological father in California.
Days later, police found Montgomery on the floor of his condominium with a handgun nearby.
He was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital after he was found to be a suicide threat. He was released from the hospital Feb. 27 and immediately placed in police custody until his release on Monday.
"He wasn't suicidal. We did everything we could and I would do it again," Freeman said. "It's a very, very disturbing and horrendous ending to a very unusual and tragic saga."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
