Husband kills wife then takes his own life on front lawn in apparent Long Island murder-suicide: cops

An enraged husband shot his longtime wife dead and then turned the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide on Long Island Thursday morning, police said.

Cops found William Clifford, 73, with a gunshot wound to the head on his front lawn and a gun lying at his feet in Islip around 6:30 a.m., according to officials.

Moments earlier, a garbage truck driver — who was trained in CPR — spotted him, “examined the body, determined he was beyond help [and] called 911 operators,” Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad Detective Lt. Kevin Beyrer told reporters. 

Inside the four-bedroom home on Parsons Landing and St. Marks Lane, cops found his wife, Eileen Clifford, 68, dead in a pool of blood. 


photo of home where murder occurred
Police were called to the Islip home after sanitation workers discovered William Clifford on his lawn. News12 Long Island

Beyrer said the doomed couple was married “for a number of years” and “neighbors described them as very nice.”

Nearby residents were startled to see swarms of cops in their sleepy, tree-lined neighborhood.


photo of crime scene
William Clifford shot his wife dead before turning the gun on himself, cops said. Dennis A. Clark

“I’m shocked and surprised because we don’t have anything happen here,” a neighbor told News 12 Long Island. 

“It’s a very quiet, sleepy little town where nothing ever happens.”

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