Sad story of VanVactor murder.
As their 12-year-old daughter looked on, a Henderson father murdered his estranged wife by pumping four bullets into her back, and then fatally wounded himself in the throat.
Dead are John Louis VanVactor, 42, and Mrs. Melvina Courtney VanVactor, 46, parents of the child, Mildred. They had been separated about two weeks, according to information obtained by Capt. Clifford Hooper, investigating Officer.
The fatal shooting occurred at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday in the yard at the home of Mrs. VanVactor’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Courtney, at 216 Kriel’s Ave.
The Courtneys, Mrs. VanVactor and Mildred were preparing to attend the funeral of Mrs. VanVactor’s uncle, Lon Courtney, at 2 p.m. at Benton and Son Chapel.
Capt. Hooper said both VanVactor and his wife were “dead on the spot. It is a simple case of murder and suicide.”
VanVactor was an employe of the Corbell Co., and at one time was a trucker for the Pearce Transfer Co. Mrs. VanVactor was an employe of Kingdon Hotel here.
POLICE SAID VanVactor reportedly had gone to the Courtney home to make a division of community property and had called Mrs, VanVactor outside to his car. VanVactor fired nine shots from a new, high standard 22 caliber pistol, Hooper stated.
Four of the shots struck Mrs. VanVactor in the back. He then fired one shot into the tront of his throat, the bullet lodging at the base of the skull.
The VanVactor child, in the front room at the time, stared through a window. She saw her mother shot and saw her father return and kill himself.
Mrs. VanVactor and their daughter had been staying at the Courtney home for the past two weeks. Hooper said he hadn’t been able to learn what the domestic trouble was between them.
Hooper said Mrs. VanVactor had returned home from work and was to attend the Courtney funeral along with her parents.
VanVactor arrived at the house, entered without any trouble and politely asked, “Y’all going to the funeral?” They replied in the affirmative.
“VINA, COME on out to the car. I got something you’ll want to look at,” he was quoted as saying. “I brought that pressure cooker.” Mrs. VanVactor accompanied him outside.
The Courtneys told Capt Hooper they were not suspicious and thought nothing of his actions.
Suddenly, they said they heard Mrs. VanVactor screaming. Then they heard a series of shots. They went to the front door, just in time to see their daughter run toward the rear of the house.
FOR AN INSTANT, the Courtneys said, VanVactor hesitated and aimed the pistol at them. They were standing in the front door but stepped back inside the
house. VanVactor continued in pursuit of his wife and more shots then were heard.
Mrs. VanVactor’s body was found at the northeast rear corner of the “shotgun” type house. VanVactor dropped to the ground about 10 feet from the front door and about 20 feet from his car.
“It appeared he (VanVactor) was returning to his car when he shot himself,” Hooper said.
Tom Courtney, another relative who was at the house at the time, also described the incidents to Hooper.
MRS. PEARL MADDEN of Bluff City in Henderson County, who was visiting a neighbor, told of seeing VanVactor return to the front yard, stop and then shoot himself in the neck.
The VanVactors had lived on 7th Street before separating. Besides her parents and the daughter, Mildred VanVactor, Mrs. VanVactor is also survived by six children by a previous marriage, William Eugene, Wallace, Callis and Charles Hancock, Mrs. Thelma House and Mrs. Jesse Hallmark, all of Henderson city and county: four brothers, David Courtney, of Henderson; Marion, William and Vernon Courtney, of Geneva, and three sisters, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Cook, of Smith Mills; Mrs. Smith Majors and Mrs, Juanita Nunn, of Henderson. Both bodies were taken to Benton and Son Funeral Home.
