Police investigate father-son suicides

MENTONE, Ind. (WANE) Police detectives are trying to figure out the chain of events that prompted a father and son to take their own lives about 12-hours apart in Kosciusko County on Monday and resulted in their home being destroyed by fire.

According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, deputies responded at 12:29 pm to a report of a shooting at at a home located near 1421 South, County Road 800 West just north of the town of Mentone.

When they arrived at the home they found Nicholas D. Lowry, 18, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Detectives believe he had just returned home from Burket Educational Center where he was a student.

At 11:42 pm, dispatchers got a call regarding a reported house fire at the same location.  When they arrived on the scene they found the home engulfed in flames.  They also found Nicholas' father, David D. Lowry, 53, dead at a picnic table, also from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.  

Firemen from five different departments responded to the fire which destroyed the home and all of the out buildings.

Detectives with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, the Indiana State Police and the Kosciusko County Major Crimes Task Force are all involved in the investigation.