Man kills wife, self, shoots daughter

WINTON, N.C. (WAVY) - Deputies are investigating a murder-suicide involving a husband and wife in Hertford County.

Their 5-year-old daughter was also shot and is recovering in an Ahoskie hospital, according to Sheriff Juan Vaughan.

911 dispatchers received a call at 9:42 a.m. Friday. A Department of Transportation worker reported hearing gunshots near Whitley Circle in the town of Winton, North Carolina.

When deputies arrived, they discovered three gunshot victims; two adults and a child. They were identified as James McCutcheon Jr., 56, Catherine McCutcheon, 40, and their daughter. The little girl is the only one who survived.

Investigators say James McCutcheon shot his wife first, then his daughter, then turned the gun on himself.

Catherine McCutcheon was in the process of moving out of the mobile home she and her daughter shared. Deputies say McCutcheon's uncle was helping her with the move Friday morning. Neighbors pointed to a U-Haul trailer attached to McCutcheon's minivan in the driveway.

During the moving process, deputies say Catherine's husband, who lived in a separate mobile home on the same plot, came over to talk. The sheriff says James returned to his house and came back to Catherine's with a .38 caliber pistol.

Catherine's uncle heard three distinct gunshots coming from a different room in the house. Sheriff Vaughan says McCutcheon shot his wife in the chest, his daughter in the side and then shot himself in the head.

Sheriff Vaughan said the couple had no previous history of domestic violence. He said Friday's incident was the first time deputies had been called to that location. The sheriff says James McCutcheon had a prior arrest in connection to a child support issue involving a different child in a different state.

The couple lived on Whitley Circle for several years. A neighbor confirms the couple rented the two mobile homes from him.