Woman kills man, then herself in Terrebonne

Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 14, 2015

TERREBONNE — A woman fatally shot a man and then killed herself at a mobile home adjacent to Smith Rock State Park, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Elizabeth Diane Dillard, 52, reportedly shot John Patrick Ryan, 54, once and then shot herself, Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Leak wrote in a news release Friday. Leak did not say when the sheriff’s office believes the incident occurred.

Deputies visited the home at about 3 p.m. Wednesday in a trailer park on NE Crooked River Drive to conduct a welfare check and found the bodies of Dillard and Ryan.

Residents of Smith Rock Mobile Estates, for residents 55 and older, according to one resident, said Friday they did not know much about the deaths or about the people who lived there.

Jim Bridges has lived in the park since 2007 but said he knew Dillard and Ryan only as acquaintances. “I know her better than him,” he said, adding he thought she had lived there for about five or six years. “He hadn’t been around that long.”

Bridges said he heard two gunshots at about 3:30 on Feb. 7, but did not think much of it.

“The first one was muffled,” Bridges said. “And then, 10 to 12 seconds later, the second one.” Bridges said he did not call the police that night.

“People back there, they shoot all the time,” said Bridges. “There’s been a skunk back there.”

“I never did get acquainted with them,” said Larry Howard, who lives a couple of doors down from the trailer where he said sheriff’s deputies told him they had discovered Ryan and Dillard.

“I wouldn’t even recognize them if I saw them,” said Katie Johnson, who lives in the park and hadn’t heard about the incident. Her daughter, Amber Treat, added, “It’s so quiet and peaceful out here.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com