DATE: Tuesday, April 1, 1997                TAG: 9704010242

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: HERTFORD                          LENGTH:   23 lines

MAN KILLS WIFE, THEN HIMSELF IN DAWN SHOOTING, POLICE REPORT

A 32-year-old man apparently shot his wife to death and then killed himself around 6 a.m. Monday, said Perquimans County Sheriff David Lane.

The bodies of Daryl Trueblood and 36-year-old Ida Trueblood were found on the floor by their sons, 13 and 9 years old, when the boys woke up.

There was no sign of alcohol or drugs at the family's home on Cartwright Swamp Road, the sheriff said.

``There was no forced entry,'' he said. ``The weapon was real close to the subject's body. There were two rounds missing from the gun. Nothing was taken from the home. From everything we could tell it was a homicide and suicide.''

The bullet from the .38-caliber snub-nosed pistol passed through Ida Trueblood's arm and into her abdomen, killing her. Trueblood then fired into his own chest, Lane said.

When their sons found the bodies, they ran next door to the home of Trueblood's brother, the sheriff said.

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