ST. PAUL
A Cottage Grove couple agreed to a suicide pact early this month, according to a search warrant issued Friday.
His suicide attempt failed. Hers did not.
Wendy LaFrance, 52, died in her town home two days before police found her body. The probable cause of death was an overdose of alcohol and various pills.
Her husband, Timothy LaFrance, 52, was treated for taking what are believed to be the same drugs. As of Friday, no charges had been filed against him.
ADVERTISEMENT
Cottage Grove police Detective Greg Malcolm said the case was under investigation and he couldn't provide more details. Police and court records give the following account of what happened:
On Jan. 5, Timothy LaFrance had not shown up for his job as a White Bear Lake school custodian for eight days, and a caller asked that police check on him. Police showed up at the town house at 7688 Hinton Ave. S. at 12:26 p.m.
LaFrance answered the door looking "somewhat disoriented, as if he had just awoken."
He told police he was sick and had been vomiting. When an officer tried to check on his wife in a bedroom, LaFrance intervened, saying she was sleeping. Police left.
About an hour later, LaFrance called for help, saying his wife was "not breathing" and they had taken pills together in a suicide attempt.
Wendy LaFrance was found facedown on a bed. Police found two bowls of pills and a suicide note. LaFrance told police he and his wife had taken pills with alcoholic drinks in an effort to
kill themselves two days earlier.
LaFrance was taken to Regions Hospital, where he was treated and released.
ADVERTISEMENT
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
