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Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Study finds Tennessee, Georgia among top states for murder-suicide

Valerie Radu, executive director of the Family Justice Center, helps families with domestic violence at the offices in the Eastgate area.
Valerie Radu, executive director of the Family Justice Center, helps families with domestic violence at the offices in the Eastgate area. Valerie Radu, executive director of the Family Justice Center, helps families with domestic violence at the offices in the Eastgate area.
photo Valerie Radu, executive director of the Family Justice Center, helps families with domestic violence at the offices in the Eastgate area.

Exactly 201 days ago, Holly Anderson stared down the barrel of a shotgun as her estranged husband pulled the trigger at point-blank range.

The first two shots ripped through her legs. Then Jeffery Held, 38, pressed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger a third time. He died there, in the parking lot of a Collegedale shopping center on April 26.

Anderson, however, survived.

By the numbers

States with the most murder-suicides during first six months of 2014:Texas: 34California: 27Florida: 20Georgia: 16Pennsylvania: 12Tennessee: 10North Carolina: 10Ohio: 10Source: Violence Policy Center

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* Two dead in suspected murder-suicide in Bradley County