Police Release More Details About Gardiner Murder-Suicide

Police say a man shot his estranged wife and set fire to his mother-in-law's house before killing himself.

The investigation into a murder-suicide in Sidney has determined the sequence of events earlier this month. Autumn Bryant and her husband, Kenneth, were estranged and divorce proceedings were pending. She was living at her brother's home in Gardiner, where Kenneth showed up in his pickup.

WABI-TV reports Kenneth shot Autumn and then made the 20+ minute drive to Sidney, where he set his mother-in-law's lakefront home on fire. He then traveled back to his brother-in-law's house in Gardiner and fatally shot himself in his pickup. Autumn was still alive when EMT's arrived, but died sometime later at the hospital.

Police say they found a binder full of cryptic messages in Kenneth's pickup truck and a gas can. A police K9 detected flammable liquids on his clothes. No one was hurt in the fire. So far, police have not commented on the motive behind the deaths.