Woman, 52 killed and two men are injured in village bloodbath
35-year-old held by cops after ‘suspicious’ death in sleepy town
A WOMAN has been found dead and two men seriously injured after a bloodbath in a tiny village.
The body of the 52-year-old was discovered in a property after officers responded to reports of a man lying on a road with serious injuries.
When they arrived at the scene in Carrutherstown just after 6am, officers also discovered a second injured man nearby.
A delivery van driver is believed to have found the first man on the A75 Gretna to Stranraer bypass which runs next to to the village.
Police and emergency services flooded the village and later made the grim discovery of the woman’s body in a house across the road from the village’s Kinmount Hotel.
A 35-year-old man is now in custody as a result of the death, which is being treated as “suspicious”.
All four roads in and out of the village were sealed off by police throughout the day as forensic teams were brought in.
Officers also carried out searches of gardens and fields as well as combing the village’s main street and interviewing door to door.
Chief inspector Stephen Stiff, the area commander for Dumfriesshire said: “The 35-year-old man in custody was one of those involved in the incident and those people were known to each other.
“Our inquiries are at a very early stage but we are not looking for any other person in connection with this.
“People can feel safe in the village today and overnight.
“The investigation is expected to continue over the weekend.”
Stiff, who apologised to residents for the disruption in the village, said police responded to a call from a motorist who had stopped to help a man.
He added: “When police spoke to this man, we learned that another episode had occurred in a house in the village.
“Police went to house and sadly found a 52-year-old woman had died and we are now treating that as suspicious.”
Residents reacted with horror to the death.
One said: “I’ve lived here for more than 30 years – everyone is shocked.”
A woman who lives nearby added: “We are all gobsmacked in the village. We’ve never had anything like this before.
“It’s bad enough at any time but it’s especially horrible near Christmas.”