Jilted Boyfriend Confessed on Facebook to Murder-Suicide
A man who confessed on Facebook to killing his ex-girlfriend, her companion and then killing himself was furious because the woman had dumped him, ABCNews.com has learned.
Erin Jehl, 19, and her friend Ryann Tipton, 19, were shot to death when they stopped by his house to pick up her belongings.
The grisly crime was discovered Saturday when a Washington woman saw a status update from a Facebook friend in Fort Wayne, Ind., saying that he had killed two people and himself. Minutes after the man has posted the message, the woman called police in Fort Wayne.
"She provided dispatchers with a specific home and asked police to check the residence," Raquel Foster, spokeswoman for the Fort Wayne Police Department, told ABCNews.com. "That is what prompted this whole investigation."
When police arrived at the residence, they found "three adults all suffering from apparent gunshot wounds," according to Fort Wayne police. All three were declared dead on-scene and police are considering the incident a murder-suicide.
"We did learn that the female shooting victim had a relationship with the shooter," Foster said. "We also learned that that relationship ended days prior to this incident. The 19-year-old male shooting victim was a friend accompanying the 19-year-old female shooting victim to recover some of her personal belongings."
Police said coroners have not yet been able to positively identify the shooter, but ABC News' Fort Wayne affiliate WPTA-TV identified the person behind the Facebook post as Bart Heller.
His Facebook post read: "someone call 911. three dead bodies at 3229 lima road fort wayne indiana. I've killed ryann, erin, and myself. people were warned not to f***ing play me and ruin me. they didn't listen. sorry about your luck."
Authorities believe that there had been no indication that the crime was imminent.
"We have not received any information that he made threats to them or that there were any signs that this was impending," Foster said.