BRYCEVILLE, Fla. – A man shot his wife five times Sunday before turning the gun on himself in their Bryceville home, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Wednesday.
Deputies were called to the home off U.S. 301 after Tammi Lynn Boyd, 52, and John Wilson Boyd, 53, were found dead during a welfare check, Leeper said.
The Boyds had failed to show up for dinner with another couple and couldn't be reached, so someone checked on the Boyds and they were found dead on their kitchen floor, Leeper said.
He said Tammi Boyd had been shot five times with a .357 Magnum handgun and John Boyd had been shot once in the head. The case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Leeper said.
Randy Horton, who lives near the Boyds, said he heard gunshots Sunday.
"It was a few -- four, five right off the bat. Then a couple more," Horton said. "Didn't think anything of it. I thought someone was over there target shooting."
Horton said detectives stopped by his home Sunday night and asked some questions. He said deputies were at the neighboring home throughout the night.
"Then, the next day, the detective came over and informed my wife that there was a tragedy," Horton said.
Neighbors and family told News4Jax John Boyd was a truck driver and Tammi Boyd was a nurse at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville.
"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Tammi Boyd. We are deeply saddened by the news of her passing as it was a shock to everyone. She was a valued team member for nearly 20 years and will be greatly missed. We are offering counseling to grieving colleagues," a hospital spokesperson said in an email to News4Jax.
John Boyd's sister said the two were high school sweethearts and they had just attended a gender reveal party for their first grandchild. Now, the couple's children have traveled to Nassau County to make funeral arrangements.
She said no one saw this coming.
Neighbors said they never saw any problems at the home and law enforcement had never been called to the house before.
“We have no prior domestic calls to that address, so we don’t know what was going through that individual’s mind prior to the incident,” Leeper said.
News4Jax did find one previous criminal charge for John Boyd, a lewd act in front of a minor in 1999. He was sentenced to give years of probation and had to register as a sex offender, but his record appears clean since then.