ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997 TAG: 9704180071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GLEN LYN
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA THE ROANOKE TIMES
A family member said they had their share of fights, but no more than any other couple.
A couple who had been together for 19 years were found dead Thursday morning, both shot in the head. Police are calling the deaths a murder-suicide.
Anthony E. Meadows, 34, and his girlfriend, Susan J. Sartin, 32, were dead when Giles County deputies arrived at their home in western Giles County after Meadows had called a sister to say their lives were over.
The Sheriff's Office received a report of a shooting at 6:11 a.m. in a house just south of the Glen Lyn town limits, said Mark Skidmore, evidence technician. Meadows and Sartin were shot in the head with a rifle, he said.
Skidmore said autopsies will be performed today, but the preliminary investigation indicates Meadows killed Sartin and then himself.
The couple's 5-year-old son was not at home when the shootings took place, according to a family member.
Nancy Simpkins, Meadows' sister, said the entire family was in shock. She said her brother dropped his son off at another sister's house about 5 a.m., "just like he was going to work."
Later that morning, Simpkins said her brother called the other sister and told her "his and Susan's life was over."
"She said, 'Don't do anything crazy,' and he said he already had," Simpkins said.
Simpkins said an aunt and her sister went to the house and found them both dead.
Although the couple were "the type that never really got along," Simpkins said the shootings were a complete shock. She said her brother and his girlfriend, who had been high school sweethearts, had had their share of fights, but no more than any other couple.
"We'll never really know what happened," she said.
Darrell Sartin, Susan Sartin's brother, said the family did not wish to comment about the shooting. Susan Sartin was a 1982 graduate of Narrows High School and was a seamstress at Oxford of Giles in Mountain View Industrial Park for 14 years, her brother said.
Meadows was a construction worker for a company at the Hoechst-Celanese plant for the past seven to eight years, according to Simpkins. She said he was a 1981 graduate of Narrows High School who enjoyed fishing and NASCAR races.
Funeral arrangements for both Sartin and Meadows are being handled by Riffe's Funeral Service Inc. in Narrows.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB