Murder-Suicide Suspected in Bloomfield Township Deaths

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) -- There has been an apparent murder-suicide in Bloomfield Township. Three children have lost their parents, and so many people are asking why.

"Four shots is what I thought I heard," said Jackie Osborn.

She did hear gunshots coming from the driveway of a nearby home on Bedford.

It is believed 46-year-old Kenneth Jarrell, an attorney, had shot his ex-wife, 45-year-old schoolteacher Susan Jarrell, as she sat in her car around 8:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Kenneth Jarrell then apparently turned the gun on himself, all while their three children were inside the home.

"It was just surreal. It really was. It was a nightmare," Osborn said.

A nightmare brought on, friends say, by financial ruin and there were child custody issues, as well. Court records show a contentious divorce and that Ken Jarrell was significantly behind on child support payments and his ex-wife had expressed concern about his mental stability.

Susan Jarrell was seeking to suspend his parenting time, and he was supposed to appear in court on Wednesday.

"In this case, I believe that Ken thought he was losing everything -- his children -- because of the legal system. Financially, he was destroyed, and felt that he had no other choice," said Lawrence Jasper, a friend and neighbor.

He says the children are in fourth, sixth and ninth grade. He got the kids out of the house and over to his own home where they called their priest and prayed.

Relatives brought one of the children to the home on Wednesday to pick up personal items.

Susan Jarrell was a French teacher at Stoney Creek High School and Hart Middle School in Rochester Hills where students and parents have been notified and counseling is being made available.