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Police find woman dead, husband unresponsive at home off Peace Haven Road
Journal photo by Corinne White
Police are investigating the death of a woman found in this house on Nordwin Drive Wednesday, June 24, 2009.
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Published: June 25, 2009
Updated: 06/25/2009 02:22 pm
A woman who neighbors say waited on her ill husband "hand-and-foot" was found dead in their home off Peace Haven Road yesterday.
Her husband was found alive in the home but unresponsive, police said. He was taken to Forsyth Medical Center for treatment. His condition was not immediately available.
The home is in the 200 block of Nordwin Drive, off of South Peace Haven Road, just south of Country Club Road.
When authorities went inside, they found a Janet Harris, 58, and her husband, C.H. Harris, 74.
Janet Harris was dead and appeared to have gunshot wounds. Her did not appear to have any wounds.
"It was apparent that she had been there for some time," Winston-Salem Police Capt. David Clayton said.
Her death is being treated as a homicide, Clayton said.
Neighbors got concerned when newspapers started piling up in the driveway and they hadn't seen the couple in a few days.
Neighbors said that C.H. Harris had been in declining health and that his wife took care of him.
Pam Rabon, who lives across the street, said Janet Harris had told Rabon's husband that C.H. Harris has cancer. She said she'd often see Janet Harris outside the home but only saw her husband he was getting in the car to go somewhere.
"When she would mow, she'd mow a little bit then come back in and check on him," Rabon said. "She seemed very devoted to him."
She said she never asked Janet Harris directly about her husband's condition, but when she would ask how he was doing, Janet Harris would respond that he was not doing well.
She said she hasn't seen the couple since just after 6 p.m. Friday.
"She helped him into the house, and that's the last I saw them," she said.
C.H. Harris' condition was unavailable this morning, and Clayton said investigators did not know why the man was unresponsive when they arrived.
Clayton said they are not looking for a suspect in the woman's death. An autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Neighbor George Sullivan said he has lived across the street from the couple ever since Sullivan moved to the neighborhood ten years ago. He said in those first years he would often see the couple outside, but as the man's health deteriorated, Sullivan saw him less frequently.
"They stayed to themselves, inside the house all the time," Sullivan said.
Clayton said they were working to get medical records and talking to family members about the C.H. Harris' condition.
He said the investigation is in the early stages, too early to talk about whether any charges are pending.
"We're concerned about the gentleman's medical condition, obviously," he said.
Janet Harris' death is the ninth homicide in Winston-Salem this year.
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