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Mother, Teen Daughter With Down Syndrome Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide
Dawna Faye Roe and her teenage daughter, Gabrielle Michelle Roe, left Idaho on June 30. They were found dead in the mother's Toyota minivan in Oregon on Friday.
An Idaho mother and her teen daughter have been found dead in rural Oregon in an apparent murder-suicide.
The Grant County Police Department confirmed in a press release provided to Oxygen.com that a mother and daughter, Dawna Faye Roe, 52, and Gabrielle Michelle Roe, 16, of Caldwell, Idaho — 25 miles west of Boise — who had been reported missing have since been found dead. The two were reportedly inside Dawna's 2004 Toyota minivan in an area northwest of Drewsey, Oregon, which is about 120 miles west of Caldwell.
Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley told Oxygen.com by phone on Monday that the details of the case are still under investigation. The press release indicates that no suspects are being sought at this time.
Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram confirmed to the Idaho State Journal that a "preliminary information shows it appears to be a murder-suicide by gunshot,” he said.
An official toxicology report and autopsy are forthcoming.
The mother's minvan was last seen driving Westbound I-84 near Fruitland, Idaho — which is on the way to Drewsey — on the afternoon of June 30. The two were reported missing thereafter.
“Gabby and Dawna might have been on their way to go camping,” the Caldwell Police Department said in a Thursday press release in which the two were listed as missing. “Family and friends do not know where they might have gone and camping is out of character for Dawna.”
It noted that there were “concerns for the safety of both Dawna and Gabby.”
By Friday, the mother and daughter were found dead.
A GoFundMe page apparently set up by one of Dawna’s surviving children states that she had “severe mental health issues."
"My mother battled with and eventually succumbed to mental illness, and Gabby was a victim of that illness as well," the page states.
The same page states that Gabby had Down syndrome and was mentally between the ages of 6 to 7 years.
“It's obviously a tragedy and a travesty,” Ingram told the Idaho News. “I think the bigger issue is mental illness in this country right now and services we need to provide for mentally ill people. And obviously mental illness probably played a factor in this, but unfortunately the police have a tough job and they can't save everyone.”
