Fire Investigation Reveals ‘Mercy Killing’ Near Libby
Flathead Beacon Headlines
September 01, 2010 1:47 PM
An investigation into a house fire in northwestern Montana took a grisly turn when authorities discovered the elderly couple living there were involved in a murder-suicide that police say was meant to be a mercy killing. Authorities originally believed that Ted and Swanie Hardgrove, both 81, died in the Saturday morning fire that burned down their home in a rural area of Lincoln County north of Libby, where they had been longtime residents. The bodies were taken to the state crime lab, where it was discovered that both Hardgroves had single gunshot wounds to…
