Montgomery County police said a psychiatrist killed her 13-year-old son, then herself, in their Kensington home.
The bodies of 54-year-old Margaret Jensvold and 13-year-old Benjamin Barnhard were discovered at their home on the unit block of Simms Court at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Police said Wednesday night that Barnhard’s death had been ruled a homicide and Jensvold’s a suicide. Both were fatally shot.
Officers were called to the home after Jensvold’s co-worker contacted authorities, saying she had not been able to reach the woman for several days.
James Barnhard, Benjamin’s father and Jensvold’s ex-husband, says he is strugglingt to understand the murder-suicide.
“I do not understand this tragedy, and I do not know why this has happened,” he said in a statement issued through the police department. “I will hold them in my heart, and they will be sorely missed by all who loved them.”
James Barnhard’s statement said his son had graduated from Wellspring Academy, the school for overweight kids in rural Carolina and had lost 160 pounds in the past year.
