Staff and wire reports

Lexington Police Sgt. Tracy Wolf said 29-year-old Erika McDowell had been staying with a relative in northwest Lexington because McDowell had separated from her husband, Christopher McDowell, 31. Christopher McDowell was formerly from Grand Island.

Christopher McDowell is a 1995 graduate of Grand Island Senior High School. The couple received a marriage license in 2000.

On Monday morning, Wolf said, Christopher McDowell went to where his wife was staying, entered the home and killed her with one shot from a 9 mm handgun.

McDowell then shot himself, Wolf said. McDowell was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, where he died several hours later.

Wolf would not release any information about Erika McDowell's relative, who saw both shootings. The relative was not injured.

Erika McDowell was born Sept. 23, 1978, at Guadalajara, Mexico, to Rual Ambriz and Maria Trujillo. She was a graduate of Lexington High School in 1996. She attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

She was working at Plum Creek Medical Group in Lexington at the time of her death. She had two children, Isaac Raymond and Marianna Elizabeth.

Her parents live in Lexington. She is survived by three brothers and three sisters.

Services will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday at St. Ann's Church in Lexington.