LAKE CITY, Fla. – Deputies from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office are investigating the deaths of a man and a woman whose bodies were found Wednesday at a home on Tribble Street in unincorporated Columbia County.
A postal worker found the body of 72-year-old Gwendolyn Cart and her husband, 79-year-old Robert Hupp, in what investigators believe was a murder/suicide by firearm, with Hupp pulling the trigger.
"As he put some mail in the slot by the front door he saw a couple of bodies. He checked the one to see if it was breathing, it was not, so he called 911 and we responded," Cpl. Murray Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.
Joyce Crawford, the best friend of Cart and an attendee at the couple's wedding, said she was still in shock, unable to believe their lives ended like this after only being married a couple of years.
"It's just so hard, I mean she's just a sweetheart, such a wonderful person, why would anyone want to do this to her? I don't understand. If you love someone why would you hurt them, why not just hurt yourself?" Crawford said.
Crawford was horrified when she heard her best friend of 36 years had been murdered at her Lake City home by her husband, who then turned the gun on himself.
"We had been through so much together, joyful times, sad times. It hasn't sunk in yet, I'm sure. I know the Lord will give us strength, but it's so hard," Crawford said.
Crawford said that the couple had been having problems and had gone to counseling and that Hupp had moved out of the home.
"He was upset with her Saturday night at a dance in Lake Butler and had words with her. And her friends were concerned (so they) followed her home," Crawford said.
Though police said that they believe this to be a murder/suicide, an investigation is still ongoing.