Domestic Dispute Ends With 2 Dead in Murder-Suicide

A 37-year-old man shot and killed his wife in the front yard of his father-in-law’s Oxnard house Wednesday afternoon before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life, police said.

Charles and Jennifer Rhoades and their two daughters were visiting Jennifer’s parents when the slaying occurred in the 2200 block of Bermuda Dunes Place--part of an affluent, gated community built in the middle of River Ridge Golf Course, police said.

The couple, who lived in Earlimart in Tulare County, became embroiled in a domestic dispute, and Jennifer Rhoades ran from her parents’ house into the front yard at 2:15 p.m., Sgt. John Crombach said. Charles Rhoades shot his wife once in the head, and then shot himself in the head, police said.

Police who were summoned to the scene said they found the woman dead, her body lying at the edge of the lawn. Charles Rhoades was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where he later died, Crombach said.

Jennifer Rhoades’ mother and the couple’s two children, about 1 and 3 years old, were in the house at the time of the shooting, Crombach said.

Police said they could not immediately provide further information about the motive for the shooting.

But a man who described himself as a family member said in a telephone interview from Earlimart that Charles Rhoades had seemed happily married. He described Rhoades as a “typical boy” and a “terrific dad” to his two children.

“Something snapped, that’s all we know,” the man said. He said that Charles Rhoades delivered fuel and that his wife was a bookkeeper. Oxnard police said they did not know the couple’s occupations.

Jennifer Rhoades’ parents, Oras and Pauline Racicot, are taking care of the couple’s children, neighbor Sue Fraker said. Oras Racicot is an official with the Ventura-area office of Southern California Edison Co.

According to police, Jennifer Rhoades’ father returned home just as police arrived, only to be confronted by the gory crime scene.

As detectives analyzed the scene, neighbors gathered to watch in their open garages, seeking refuge from Wednesday’s downpour.

Some said they were shocked that a killing had occurred in their neighborhood, where townhouses sell for as much as $300,000 and residents get to know each other by playing golf or chatting at the community pool.

“This is the prestigious part of town,” said Pat McDonald, 31, who lives two doors down from the Racicots. “It shows you that it can happen anywhere.”

Jim Peters, who has lived across the street from the family for more than a year, said the killing was a “senseless, needless thing.

“To me, this is a classic situation where, if a handgun hadn’t been loaded and nearby, the anger that made him snap would have passed,” Peters said.

The slaying was the second in Oxnard this year and the 10th in the county. In all of 1990, there were 20 homicides in Ventura County, authorities said.

Times correspondent Karen McKean contributed to this story.