Shooter May Have Taken Dogs Out

"ST. PETERSBURG, FL — William Brown Wood Jr. said if he ever took his own life, something might also happen to his ex-wife.

"Wood also told his longtime girlfriend that if he killed himself he wouldn't burden her by leaving behind his body — or his two beloved dogs.

"Tragically, authorities say he was a man of his word.

"His ex-wife, Donna Aline Havard Wood, 54, was found shot to death in her Snell Isle home at 1927 Brightwaters Blvd. NE on Friday night, St. Petersburg police said.

"Her body was found hours after her 53-year-old ex-husband's body was found that afternoon floating in a canal off Second Avenue S in Tierra Verde, near the house he shared with his girlfriend and her children, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

"Authorities believe William Wood shot his ex-wife dead in Snell Isle, then took his own life in Tierra Verde.

"He left behind two devastated families — and more than a few hints as to what he was planning.

"`If I ever kill myself,` he often told his girlfriend, Mariela Lucas, `don't get mad.`

"Lucas, a 34-year-old mother of two, always thought he was joking. But now she can't find his two dogs — Cindy, a white Labrador, and Shadow, a black Labrador.

"She thinks he may have killed them as well."

From TampaBay.com...