Domestic dispute leads to 3 deaths in Limestone County

ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say the three people found dead at a north Alabama home were killed amid a domestic dispute that ended with a double murder and suicide.

News outlets report Limestone County Sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Young says the bodies were found during a welfare check Wednesday. The victims were identified as 48-year-old Jerry Thomas Phillips and 52-year-old Jamie Lynn Phillips. Young says they were killed by 31-year-old Robert Eart Gilchrist III, who shot himself inside the home after police arrived.

Young says Gilchrist was Jamie Phillips’ son and was recently released from prison in Tennessee.

Authorities found the bodies after getting a call from a relative, who hadn’t been able to contact the Phillips. The caller says Gilchrist told her the Phillips did not wish to speak to her.