Sikeston police investigate murder/suicide

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that occurred Friday afternoon at a Sikeston residence and then at a nearby motel.

Kristie Lyn Hill, 30, is believed to have been murdered by her husband, Solomon Moroney Hill, 34, who then turned the gun on himself at a Miner, Mo., motel, according to a news release by the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Police learned the Sikeston couple had recently undergone a "troubled" separation.

According to the news release, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety received a call of shots fired in around 4:40 p.m. in the 1800 block of Indiana Avenue. Employees of a nearby business told investigators they heard several shots fired and witnessed a vehicle speed away from 1805 Indiana.

Officers entered the home and found a deceased 30-year-old white female who had been shot several times, according to a DPI news release. Southeast Missouri's Major Case Squad was activated and responded to assist with the investigation.

Soon after, an officer located the vehicle seen by witnesses abandoned at a nearby convenience store about a block from the home, according to the release. It was later learned that the vehicle belonged to Kristie Lyn Hill.

Investigators turned their attention on the victim's spouse, Sikeston police said, and located his vehicle at the motel less than two hours after the first gunshots were reportedly heard on Indiana Avenue.

Case squad investigators made their way into the room and found the suspect dead, with a single gunshot wound. The Scott County coroner's office was called in to handle both deaths.

Several officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and members of the Scott County Sheriff's Department assisted in the investigation and at the crime scenes.

Pertinent address:

1805 Indiana Ave., Sikeston, MO