Gun’s origins sought in apparent murder-suicude
By Jeff Gallatin
Bay Village
Published Sept. 1, 2010

City police have an put out a trace through the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau in an attempt to learn where a Russell Road resident got the gun he apparently used as part of a weekend murder-suicide, a police official said.

“We’re still working on finding out where he got the gun,” Detective Lt. Mark Spaetzel said Tuesday. “We’ve put out a trace with the ATF to get more information about it.”

Police recovered a .45 caliber handgun next to the right hand of Michael Rothgery, 42, originally from the Elyria area. Rothgery’s body was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head Saturday afternoon in the backyard of the Russell Road home he and his wife, Mary “Molly” Rothgery, had moved into in December along with their two daughters. Molly was found dead in a TV room of the house covered with an afghan. Cuyahoga County coroner’s office officials said she died of asphyxiation. Molly had filed for divorce July 23. Spaetzel said there were no signs of a struggle in the home.

Michael had dropped the couple’s two young girls off at his brother Eric’s house Friday night. Eric is the Elyria clerk of courts, while another brother, Christopher, is a Lorain County Common Pleas judge.

Eric made a brief statement about the deaths.

“We loved my brother and loved my sister-in-law,” he said. “We love the kids and are trying to deal with the situation.”

Spaetzel said determining when and how Michael got the gun could help them determine when Rothgery decided to take this course of action.

“It would tell us more about the situation,” he said.

Spaetzel said a single round had been fired from the gun.

A normal ATF check can take up to several weeks, police said.

Spaetzel said neighbors indicated it was known the couple was not getting along. But Spaetzel said there was no history of prior incidents at the house.

“He called us and was upset when she filed for the divorce, and he called up upset once after that, saying she was trying to take his teaching license,” Spaetzel said. “But there was no history of any violence in the matter.”

Police went to the house after a neighbor called Saturday afternoon, asking officers to check the house.

“He apparently got back to the house around 9 p.m. Friday, while she got home around midnight,” Spaetzel said. “Neighbors noticed that there wasn’t any of the usual activity, so Saturday afternoon one called us to check. We found his body in the backyard, and a check of the house found her body in the TV room.”

A neighbor later told police he thought he heard a gunshot early Saturday afternoon.

Spaetzel said police found a note, but that it was not a typical suicide note, talking about reasoning or why Rothgery might have committed the acts.

“Things had apparently gone downhill after she filed for the divorce in July,” Spaetzel said.

Prior to moving into the Russell Road home, the couple had rented another home in Bay Village for several months after coming back from Philadelphia early in 2010. Michael had worked in the Lorain City School District for several months and was teaching religion classes in an area Catholic school, Spaetzel said. Molly had been a retail development manager at the Great Lakes Brewery, where a planned birthday party for her was turned into a memorial celebration after her death.

“She was well-liked by people,” Spaetzel said.

Spaetzel said the events had definitely impacted the area.

“It’s a tragic event with a lot of victims all the way around,” he said.