Domestic abuse calls led up to murder-suicide

The phone message was worrisome.

Russell Dwyer, sounding agitated and embarrassed, explained that the police had been to his home, that his wife had moved out, and that the Lundhs would need to find someone other than his wife to baby-sit their 5-year-old daughter.

Stuart Lundh called Colleen Dwyer a couple of days after the Feb. 17 message to see if she was doing OK. She said that there had been "violence" and that she would be in touch.

On Wednesday, the Dwyers lay dead in their front yard.

A marriage unraveling amid 911 calls, a restraining order and accusations of unfaithfulness led up to the murder-suicide Wednesday afternoon at 2918 Flintridge Square, in northeast Colorado Springs.

Retired soldier Russell Dwyer lay on his back with the handgun he'd used to kill his estranged wife and himself beside his body. His wife lay face down in blood a few steps away. Autopsies on Thursday determined that each had died of a gunshot wound in the head, with Colleen Dwyer's death marking the year's seventh homicide.

The couple married Sept. 14, 2002. They had two children together, 4-year-old Christopher and 2-year-old Emma, and two children from Colleen's previous marriage, 11-year-old Sarah Stott and 10-year-old Kenneth Stott.

In recent months, their relationship had strained to the point of separation, with their house going up for sale two weeks ago. Police say Colleen Dwyer went to the house to retrieve the two children on the day she was killed. It was her 34th birthday.

Russell Dwyer, 39, was a highly decorated Army veteran who served in Iraq for a year beginning in 2003 as a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, then based in Fort Carson. The 20-year veteran was awarded the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Army Achievement Medal. He was a cavalry scout instructor at Fort Knox, Ky., for two years until he retired in June 2006.

The calls to police began just three months after his return, first with a domestic disturbance report on Sept. 8, 2006, followed by six more calls including harassment, threats and other disturbances.

The most recent report came Monday, when someone from Colleen Dwyer's new residence at 4911 Sonata Drive dialed 911 to report harassment and threats.

Colleen Dwyer got a temporary restraining order against her husband on Aug. 29. It was lifted about two weeks later at a hearing Colleen Dwyer requested to get a permanent restraining order, which was not granted.

It was unclear Thursday what happened with her request.

In the request for the temporary order, Colleen Dwyer said that on Aug. 28 she was going upstairs when her husband grabbed her arm, twisting it and bending her fingers back. She also accused him of smashing cabinets, doors and toys in front of their children, cutting electric cords and "trashing" the garage. She said he would call the children and her vulgar names.

The judge ordered Russell Dwyer to stay at least 100 yards from the house and see his two biological children only during supervised visits.

Police records detail at least five calls after the restraining order was issued, including the Feb. 17 incident cited by the Lundhs.

Jana Lundh, who used Colleen Dwyer as her baby-sitter for two months, tried to call Colleen a few days after her husband did. Russell Dwyer answered the phone, and without asking who he was talking to, said his wife had taken his kids and moved in with her boyfriend. He even offered to give out the man's cell phone number, she said.

Lundh described Colleen Dwyer as a soft-spoken, upbeat mother with a kind and gentle demeanor. Lundh's daughter, who usually doesn't warm up to strangers, said after one day with Colleen that she "loved her." The shy 5-year-old even decided to make her a present.

Colleen Dwyer baby-sat other children, but her 4-year-old son, Christopher, became good friends with Lundh's daughter Autumn, the oldest of those in her daytime care.

Lundh's thoughts were with Christopher and his three siblings Thursday as the news of the Dwyers' death sank in. "I was really shocked, and my heart is broken for her children. I mean two of her children are now orphans. Her little ones are orphans."

The two youngest children were home at the time of the shooting, and Christopher was carried out of the house clutching a teddy bear and wrapped in a blanket.

They are now staying with Colleen Dwyer's parents, police said Thursday. A man who stood on their porch with two young boys nearby said the family did not want to comment.

Outside the couple's former house on Flintridge Square, a group of mourners placed a small memorial near where the woman's body lay, with flowers, a teddy bear and a white poster with personal messages, including one written in large, bold letters: "We Miss You Colleen!"

Domestic violence was suspected in at least eight of the 28 homicides last year. Five of those deaths were from murder-suicides, police said at the time.

For an interactive map of the city's homicides so far this year, click here.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0198 or bnewsome@gazette.com