"A Relationship Gone Bad"

"BEREA, NC - The body of the owner of the Munching Marvin's grill and the body of her boyfriend were found early Wednesday afternoon inside the business off U.S. 158 at the Berea community in rural western Granville County after a murder-suicide, Sheriff Brin Wilkins said.

"`It's just a relationship gone bad,` Wilkins said of the deaths of the owner, Susie Hale Gross, 50, and her companion, Daniel Tyson Matthews, 26.

"Wilkins said that Matthews used a handgun to shoot Gross before turning the firearm on himself. Wilkins said that the bodies were found on the kitchen floor.

"The bodies will undergo autopsies by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at Chapel Hill, Wilkins said. The death of Gross is the first homicide in the county's jurisdiction this year, Wilkins said.

"The Sheriff's Department sealed off the eatery and the adjacent residence owned by Gross, where Matthews also had lived. Department personnel could be seen removing boxes of items from the house.

"Matthews helped out at the business and Gross was separated from her husband, Wilkins said.

"Authorities received the call shortly after 1 p.m., with Wilkins saying a Budweiser beer delivery man drove up, found the back door open and discovered the bodies.

"Wilkins said the eatery's opening time customarily was not until approximately 4 p.m.

"Wilkins, when asked how the relatives of Gross and Matthews responded to his telling them what had happened, said, `Everybody was shocked, heartbroken.`

"Gross' mother lives in the Rocky Mount area and Matthews was from Granville County, Wilkins said. `Both of them, they are good folks,` with good family members, Wilkins said.

"`It's a sad thing to happen here in the community,` Wilkins added, noting Berea is a tightly-knit place.

"The eatery has a page on the social networking Web site Facebook. It was briefly mentioned as one of the local favorite places in a Time Warner Cable-produced video about the quality of life in the county."

Source: heraldsun.com...