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Overland Park police identify elderly couple killed in suspected murder-suicide

Overland Park police have identified the elderly couple who died in a possible murder-suicide Thursday morning.

Police found Frank and Donna Mayfield, both 87, dead when they responded around 9:15 a.m. to a shooting in the 8400 block of England Street, said Officer John Lacy, a spokesman for the Overland Park Police Department.

Lacy said the husband called police to say his wife had been shot. When officers arrived at the scene, they found both the caller and his wife had died from gunshot wounds.

“This is a tragedy,” Lacy said.

Donna Mayfield was bedridden and may have been in hospice care, Lacy said.

John Gronberg said he lived near the couple for a long time and spent time doing repairs and constructing items with his neighbor. He and his wife were away Thursday morning, but were “devastated” when they learned the news after driving home to find police tape and police cars surrounding his neighbors’ home.

Gronberg said both his neighbors had declining health, and Frank Mayfield had looked into nursing home information.

Another neighbor, who wished not to be identified, described the couple as loving but more withdrawn as the wife’s health declined in the past few years.

An officer walks out of a home surrounded by caution tape.
Overland Park police are investigating a possible murder-suicide after finding an elderly couple dead at the scene of a shooting in the 8400 block of England Street Thursday morning. Robert A. Cronkleton

This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 1:33 PM.

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