LAKE MARY, Fla. — Three people were found dead in a Lake Mary neighborhood early Thursday morning and WFTV obtained the emotional 911 calls of neighbors calling for help.
911 CALLS: Neighbors Call For Help AT THE SCENE: Images From Shooting
"Oh my God, there's three people dead now," a 911 caller told the dispatcher (listen to calls) . "It looks like he shot the driver, he shot himself, and he shot the guy on the sidewalk."
The violence happened in the middle of the street.
WFTV learned Thursday afternoon that 54-year-old Dale Leigh Marshall-Burkhart was shot by her ex-husband, 61-year-old John Marshall. Dale Leigh Marshall-Burkhart's current husband, 59-year-old Orval Dale Burkhart, was also shot and killed by Marshall.
Investigators said Dale Marshall-Burkhart left her home around 7:30am with her daughter. Her current husband, Orval Burkhart, was still inside the house. John Marshall, investigators said, showed up at the house and began firing at it. Orval Burkhart then ran out of the home and down the street to get away, but was shot to death by Marshall.
A crime like this is unusual anywhere but, neighbors say, especially in their family-friendly neighborhood, just blocks away from Lake Mary High School.
Around 7:30am is when the first 911 calls came in. The shooting started at the home near Holbrook Circle and Sundance Drive ( see map ) and then continued on the street, about a block a way, forcing unsuspecting neighbors to witness the horrible crime.
The murder scene looked like a freeze frame from a movie gone horribly wrong. Dale Marshall-Burkhart was in her car, trying to back away, and her husband, the other victim, had tried to run for safety. The fallen gunman lay on the ground dead in the middle of the street.
Nicholas Canning is friends with one eyewitness.
"She saw the guy with the gun just point right at the head and, boom, boom! Blew them all away, basically," neighbor Nicholas Canning said.
Deputies believe Marshall fired five shots through the walls of the home. Orval Burkhart ran as neighbors called 911.
"I just saw my neighbor run down the street and across the street. I saw a guy jump out of his window chasing him with a gun," another caller told the 911 dispatcher.
Marshall chased Burkhart about one block and shot him just as his ex-wife was arriving at the home.
"She comes home, we believe, turns the corner right as he is firing upon her now current husband," said Lt. James Clark, Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Marshall shot his ex-wife, still in her car, and threatened neighbors who heard the commotion. He then took his own life.
"The guy that's lying on the ground is the one who shot everybody," a 911 caller said.
John Marshall had been divorced from Dale Marshall-Burkhart for seven years.
"We do know that he had an abusive-type demeanor to him, but nothing that would've indicated this," Clark said. "There was a custody battle, pretty ugly custody battle, that went on. The family here did not want to allow access to the children."
The one Burkhart child, who lived in the home, an 11th grade girl, was at school already when the shooting happened. Marshall and his ex-wife had five other kids together, all who are adults, so the 11th grade daughter will stay with one of her siblings.
Investigators are pouring through the family's computers to see if they shed any light on a motive for the deadly crime. Aside from the 1997 domestic violence arrest, Marshall had only one other arrest for driving with a suspended license. WFTV learned he was something of a wanderer; over the years he's had addresses from Colorado to Africa.
The scene was something the neighborhood will never forget. Residents were horrified when they heard the news and said they couldn't be more shocked that something like that would happen in their neighborhood.
One neighbor said she did her research before she moved there from Denver, Colorado. The low crime rate and excellent schools are what attracted her.
"That's why I moved here. Did a lot of research and they said Lake Mary is the place go," eyewitness Sharon Cooksy said.
It didn't take long for news about the double murder-suicide to get around Lake Mary. It is one of Seminole County's most desired places to live, with one of the lowest crime rates in the state.
Angel Lausell's body shook nervously as WFTV interviewed him.
"Coming from Queens, seeing something like this in New York, right away you get a shocked and that's why I came down here in '90," Lausell said.
Many residents were shocked as they watched Seminole County sheriff's deputies and crime scene investigators hover over three dead bodies on the main road that leads into the subdivision off Lake Park Drive.
Residents called family members and neighbors because everyone was desperate to know why it happened in their neighborhood.
"I thought maybe some of the middle school kids got into a fight, you know. Maybe somebody pulled out a knife and the cops came," Cooksy said.
WFTV found that's the kind of petty crime they're used to in the close-knit community. Crime stats turned into the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show there were just over 300 crimes committed in the city of 14,000 last year. Most were cases of burglary and theft and crime was down nearly six percent from 2008.
Previous Stories: May 6, 2010: Double Murder-Suicide Shakes Up Quiet Neighborhood
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