Estranged Husband Allegedly Breaks Into Wife's Home, Kills Her And Mother-In-Law

The code word was, 'Hey.' If Colorado hair salon worker Julie Gavigan received a text message with such a greeting from her co-worker Annjolynne “Annie” Scott, it meant one thing: call the police. 

Scott, 29, had been trapped in an abusive marriage and allegedly was being stalked by her estranged husband Timothy Ray Scott Jr., despite multiple protective orders.

So the two work friends concocted a plan. If Scott was in danger, she promised to text Gavigan that three-letter word, which would act a distress signal, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com. 

But the message never arrived. 

On March 5, Annjolynne Scott and her mother Tamara “Tammy” Dunn, 59, were fatally shot and stabbed in the woman’s Colorado Springs townhome following an apparent home invasion that apparently woke the whole neighborhood. Police allege her husband was the culprit.

Police suspect Timothy Scott Jr. entered his wife’s residence in the early morning hours of March 5. He allegedly smashed through her front window with a chunk of concrete, bent the window’s protective metal grid beams, and climbed inside, the arrest affidavit stated.  

Tammy Jo Dunn and Annie Clark Photo: Facebook

A neighbor later called the police after spotting Annjolynne’s two dogs running through the neighborhood in the middle of the night, according to a GoFundMe page commemorating the mother and daughter. 

When police arrived shortly after 2 a.m., they discovered Dunn, Annjolynne’s mother, lying motionless and bleeding at the bottom of a staircase on the suite’s main floor. She had cuts and puncture wounds on her face, head, neck, and arm. The woman had been stabbed and slashed a total of 16 times. 

The 59-year-old woman, who was still conscious, but couldn’t move, told a detective, “He killed my daughter.”

Police located Timothy Scott Jr. hovering over his wife in a bedroom upstairs, who had been shot in the face and hands. A “large knife” covered in blood, a semi-automatic pistol, live ammunition, and two spent shell casings were on the floor next to the man’s wife. On the bed, police found a butcher block. Annjolynne Scott was pronounced dead at the scene. 

“She stabbed me,” Timothy Scott Jr., who was bleeding from his neck, allegedly told law enforcement prior to his arrest. 

The woman’s mother was transported to hospital where she also died. An autopsy ruled that Dunn had been stabbed to death and medical examiners noted that the kitchen knife blade that killed the Colorado mother had sliced “through the tissue and exposed the spine and bone,” according to police.
 
While Timothy Scott Jr. was being evaluated by medical staff, he allegedly resisted paramedics, and attempted to snatch the firearm of a nearby officer. 

Police suspect that Annjolynne made a frantic attempt to escape and alert her neighbors, and at one point darted outside her home, wounded and screaming, only to be dragged back inside by her husband. A neighbor’s driveway security camera allegedly captured the supposed struggle. Blood stains were also found on the door steps, front doors, and sidewalks of neighboring homes. Forensic investigators later identified more than 100 separate blood stains inside the townhome.

Other neighbors also overheard breaking glass and Timothy Scott Jr. allegedly dragging his shrieking wife back into her townhome. One resident reported hearing “scuffling feet” and a woman “yelling for help,” outside her property. 

“This is a horrible, tragic event as a result of domestic violence,” Lt. Jim Sokolik of the Colorado Springs Police Department told Oxygen.com Friday. “This is a serious crime.”

Long before the alleged double murder, however, the couple’s relationship had been spiraling out of control for years, according to law enforcement, family, and neighbors.   

Annjolynne called authorities to report Scott Jr. a number of times in recent months, police said. On Feb. 23, she alleged her estranged husband was stalking her, claiming he was watching her home, according to an arrest affidavit. Timothy Scott Jr. had also pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic violence assault in 2016 and felony stalking in 2017.

Julie Gavigan, Annjolynne Scott’s co-worker and neighbor, also told police she was well aware of the cycle of violence her friend was living through. The woman explained to investigators that Scott had confided in her numerous times about the abusive relationship. Gavigan, who lived across the street, agreed to phone police if she ever suspected Annjolynne was in danger. 

Annjolynne Scott’s family also claimed that Timothy Scott Jr. had a history of “repeated violence and stalking,” and that prior to her killing, they had planned to move the young woman away from Colorado Springs to escape the abusive marriage.

The 29-year-old routinely barricaded her door with a “large metal bar” and the woman’s mother had even taken a leave of absence from work so she could stay with her daughter over concerns for her safety, police said. 

“They felt Mr. Scott would be deterred from violence with Ms. Dunn’s presence,” the arrest affidavit stated.

The family said that the couple was previously living together but that Timothy Scott Jr. moved out in February. Neighbors also said the couple was filing for divorce and that the man’s car hadn’t been seen at his wife’ home in about a month prior to her slaying, according to the arrest affidavit.

The GoFundMe page set up for the slain women's family described Annjolynne Scott as an animal lover and dedicated friend. 

“Annie loved her family and her dogs,” organizer Rockelle Reindl wrote on the fundraising platform. “She was so loved by us, her friends and her clients. Tammy Jo gave her life trying to protect her daughter.”

Timothy Scott Jr. was charged with two counts of murder and is being held without bond at an El Paso detention facility, according to online jail records. He’s scheduled to appear in court on March 23. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer able to comment on his behalf.