EDWARDSVILLE - A Godfrey man who fatally shot his mother and himself

Details of murder-suicide emerge at inquest

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December 08, 2010 8:18 PM

By SANFORD J. SCHMIDT

The Telegraph

EDWARDSVILLE - A Godfrey man who fatally shot his mother and himself was in financial trouble and had taken out a number of loans against the house that his mother owned, a Madison County coroner's jury was told Wednesday.
"He was about $200,000 in debt. The banks had contacted him, and he told them he was making every effort to pay the money back," Detective Mike Keshner of the Madison County Sheriff's Department said at an inquest Wednesday.
The deputy testified at an inquest into the deaths of Marion E. Yancey, 92, and Robert M. Yancey, 62, both of 903 Robert Drive, Godfrey. Their bodies were found last Sept. 14.
The jury ruled the mother's death a homicide and the son's death a suicide.
The bodies were discovered after an agent went to the home to repossess a car. The agent did not receive an answer but noticed a back-door glass pane broken and called deputies.
The broken pane apparently was a coincidence, but deputies decided to enter the home to check on the welfare of the residents.
They discovered Robert Yancey's body on the floor of the garage with a black handgun beside it. He had died from a contact gunshot wound to the head.
Marion Yancey was in bed in a position as if she was asleep. She had a single gunshot wound to the head.
Both bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition. They had been dead about six days, authorities estimate.
sanfordschmidt@yahoo.com