WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Funeral Friday for 3 victims of Lexington Co. murder-suicide

Funeral Friday for 3 victims of Lexington Co. murder-suicide

(Lexington County) May 2, 2003 - Friends and family members gathered Friday to say goodbye to three of the four people found dead Tuesday in a Lexington County home.

Services for Tammy Lovette, 27; her mother Betty Lovette, 53; and Tammy's 7-month-old son Judah Henley were held at 10:00am at JP Holley Funeral Home off Garners Ferry Road.

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department says Tammy Lovette killed her mother, son and the child's father, Wade Henley, 28, and then turned the .380 caliber handgun on herself early on April 26th. Funeral services for Henley are scheduled for Saturday at Antioch Baptist Church off Farrow Road.

Sheriff's investigators say the cause of Tammy Lovette's personal crisis may never be known. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says discussions with relatives and friends indicated Tammy Lovette may have been suffering from postpartum depression, "Tammy was having difficulty being a mother. Family members say she was having difficulty with the child." There was no official medical diagnosis of postpartum depression.

Investigators are waiting to toxicology results to see if Tammy Lovette was on drugs at the time. Metts also says cocaine and marijuana were found in the house.

Sheriff Metts says Betty Lovette's estranged husband discovered one of the bodies inside the home on Tuesday, then immediately contacted law enforcement.

Tammy Lovette was a social worker at Sister Care, a center in the Midlands for battered women. Nancy Barton was a co-worker and says it just doesn't seem to fit, "She was so available to the battered women. I remember her as a lifeline to so many women in crisis."

posted 12:09pm by Chris Rees