Suspect found dead in W.Va. after double murder

The suspect in a double murder in Scott early Monday morning apparently killed himself during a traffic stop in West Virginia hours later, according to authorities in both states.

Dennis Rahuba, 50, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after 7 a.m. along Interstate 77 near Big Chimney, W.Va.

Police said Mr. Rahuba was the suspect in a double shooting hours earlier at a home on Great Oak Drive in Scott.

Scott police went to the home shortly before 3 a.m. to perform a welfare check and found Christy Reeves, 50, and William Rabatin, 53, both shot to death. Authorities did not say what prompted the welfare check.

Allegheny County homicide detectives “determined the shooting was domestic in nature” and identified Mr. Rahuba as a suspect.

Police in West Virginia received a “be on the lookout” alert about 6 a.m. for Mr. Rahuba, who authorities believed was headed south on Interstate 79 in a black Acura.

The Acura was spotted shortly before 7 a.m. in Kanawha County, W.Va., according to Joe Crawford, chief deputy of the county sheriff’s office. A deputy saw the car on I-79 south around the Big Chimney exit, shortly before I-79 connects with I-77 in Charleston.

The deputy and others followed the Acura toward Charleston, and the southbound lanes of the interstate were shut down, Chief Crawford said. Multiple deputies tried to stop the car near the Westmoreland Road exit of I-77.

“As [authorities] tried to call the individual driving the vehicle out of the car, they heard what they believed to be a single gunshot,”

Chief Crawford said at a media briefing about 10:30 a.m. “At that point, they backed off and shut down the other lanes.”

SWAT officers responded to the scene and the Acura was cleared. Mr. Rahuba was found inside, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Allegheny County homicide detectives are investigating. It was not clear how Mr. Rahuba might have known the pair he’s suspected of killing.