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Suspect in strangulation takes own life |
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Monday, 01 June 2009 |
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Register Staff
5-30-2009 The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an alleged attempted murder and suicide.
Thomas F. Gossett, a 54-year-old Trona resident, allegedly tried to strangle a female acquaintance and then took his own life in the southern part of the county between the evening of Monday, May 25 and the morning of May 26.
According to a press release, the Sheriff’s Department received a call at approximately 9:53 p.m. Monday from Ridgecrest Regional Hospital reporting it was attending to the victim of an attempted murder. The victim, an unidentified 52-year-old woman from Southern California, reported being strangled by Gossett earlier that day. She drove herself to the hospital.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the hospital and interviewed the victim after she was treated.
Gossett was known to reside in Trona, and sheriff’s investigators were able to locate the scene of the crime off State Route 190 near the White Swan Mine. The next day, May 26, investigators were in the process of obtaining search warrants for the suspect when they received a call at approximately 9:18 a.m. reporting a possible suicide near the Slate Range crossing in Inyo County on the Trona/Wildrose Road.
Deputies responded to that scene and determined the victim of the apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound was indeed Gossett, the suspect from the earlier attempted murder at White Swan Mine.
The victim of the alleged strangulation was reportedly released from the hospital, but due to the nature of the case, her name was not released.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 10 July 2009 )
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