WYOMING, Mich. - Before Bruce Huntley, 33, kidnapped his wife and their young children, police say the Wyoming man murdered her mother, her mother's boyfriend and their family dog. Then, surrounded by police, they say Huntley shot and killed himself
“He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” confirmed Kent County Undersheriff Michelle Lajoye-Young.
After domestic violence, police say Samantha Huntley, 33, left Bruce Huntley and moved from their Wyoming apartment to live with her mother in Spencer Township. Armed with a gun, they say Huntley went to northern Kent County early Saturday, killed his mother-in-law Lisa Bradley and her boyfriend James Cole, 54,
Bruce Huntley then kidnapped his wife and children and brought them back to Wyoming.
“We had confirmed that the female and the two children were alive but in grave danger and being held in the apartment hostage,” says Lajoye-Young. “They began to negotiate with the suspect and he subsequently agreed to release the wife and kids. But he threatened during the negotiation that he would commit suicide and following the release he did.”
Some of the same detectives from the Kent County Sheriff’s Department investigating the murders in Spencer Township were on duty three weeks ago when a Caledonia man facing a divorce allegedly killed his in-laws at their Bowne Township home.
The undersheriff says it’s rare to have two such similar cases.
“We definitely were surprised by the commonality,” says Lajoye-Young. “Certainly, struck us when we first got on the scene.”
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.