Authorities have identified the couple who were found shot to death this week inside a house in southwestern Yadkin County.
Ernest J. Myers, who was 57 or 58, apparently shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Betty G. Riddle, 64, then killed himself, Lt. Robin Moxley of the Yadkin County Sheriff's Office said yesterday.
The couple had been dead about two days when a deputy found their bodies Thursday in their house at 5104 Windsor Road in the Windsor's Crossroads community in Hamptonville.
Moxley said she spent most of yesterday notifying the couple's relatives about their deaths. Autopsies were performed on their bodies at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
Investigators found a scribbled suicide note that read, "She was an accident." Myers' body was found near the front door. Riddle's body was found further inside the house.
Both had been shot with a 12-gauge shotgun. No one else was involved in the shooting, authorities say.
Sheriff Mike Cain said Thursday that he didn't know exactly what the note meant.
"I don't know what was in his mind," Cain said. "He didn't give us much to work with."
A person named John who declined to give his last name but said he was Riddle's nephew answered the phone at Riddle's house in Harmony. He said he talked to his aunt on Monday and she told him that "everything was happy-go-lucky" with her relationship with Myers.
A friend of Riddle's introduced her to Myers six weeks ago, the nephew said. The couple had been dating about a month, and she had moved into the house about a week ago.
Myers was a longtime resident of Yadkin County.
Riddle was a retired nurse, according to her obituary.
Riddle's nephew said that his aunt was disabled. Both had health issues, Moxley said.
Riddle's death "is a mystery to all of us," the nephew said.
Riddle's funeral is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday at Gentry Family Funeral Service in Yadkinville. Information about Myers' funeral was not available last night.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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