Community mourns elderly couple lost in apparent murder-suicide

Holmes County residents have been in shock to learn that an elderly couple beloved throughout the community perished in an apparent murder-suicide.

Holmes County Sheriff John Tate said what occurred was obvious based on the way Buford and Sue Williams were discovered in their home on Highway 179 late Monday morning.

Tate said a caretaker who had been unable to get the couple on the phone went to the residence to check on them and found them deceased.

The home was secure, and there was no suicide note left indicating why Buford Williams shot his wife, who was found laying in bed in a bedroom, then turned the gun on himself. Williams was found laying in a separate bed set up in the living room.

Tate said the medical examiner thought the couple had been deceased for 10 to 12 hours at the time they were found.

Without a note or other explanation left behind, Tate said the elderly couple was in poor health and loved ones can only speculate why the Williams’ lives ended so tragically.