Another tragedy...............

[Kitty C.]

Murder-suicide suspected in Fort Dodge shooting
Published: 07/29/2005   11:08 AM

By: Associated  Press  -  Associated Press

FORT DODGE, IA - The shooting deaths of a woman and two of her children appeared to be a murder-suicide, Police Chief Thomas Francis said Friday.

The bodies of 3-year-old Braydon Gollob and 2-year-old Brody Gollob were found late Thursday by their two older siblings, whose names were not immediately released. The older children, ages 10 and 13, ran to a neighbor's home to call police.

Police went to the home and found their mother, Richella Stark, lying wounded in an upstairs bedroom. She was taken by helicopter to a Des Moines hospital, where she died later.

Francis said the older children were staying with their father, Michael Stark, of Fort Dodge. The younger children were the sons of Richella Stark's boyfriend, David Gollob.

The police chief said there had been no previous police complaints at the house, but that a child welfare check had been done at some point in the last two years.

The woman's front yard was strewn with bicycles, skateboard and toys on Friday. A white Ford Explorer sat in the driveway.

Next-door neighbor Betty Lind said Richella Stark's boyfriend had lived at the home intermittently until several months ago, when he moved out.

"I knew they were unhappy and the kids were unhappy and I thought, 'Those poor little kids -- what they have to hear,"' Lind said. "It's always the children I think of. They're innocent and they don't know any of these things. They don't know why these things are going on."

Lind said the two toddlers frequently rode their tricycles to her house and called her "Grandma."

She said she heard frequent arguments coming from the home before the boyfriend moved out. In recent weeks, she said, the woman seemed despondent.

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Betcha dollars to donuts, there was a custody dispute going on............

[Brent]

>Betcha dollars to donuts, there was a custody dispute going
>on............

I bet you're right. :(  
I found a few oblique references to this story:

"One of the dead is believed to be 3-year-old Braydon Stark, identified in court records as being a plaintiff in a child-support suit against David Gollob, Richella Stark's boyfriend."
(http://www.messengernews.net/top_stories_full.asp?3282)

"Police said a non-contact order was issued May 2 against Stark's boyfriend, David Gollob."
(http://www.theiowachannel.com/news/4786145/detail.html)

So it appears she took out a restraining order against him. I'm guessing that he *dared* to ask for visitation, she refused.  After she realized the RO probably wouldn't hold up in court, she murdered the children rather than allow him to see the kids. That's my take on it, but who know. I'm sure they'll figure out a way to blame it on him, because he "pressured" her by wanting to have access to his children.