Parents planned murder-suicide, son says

WINTER HAVEN - A Polk County couple is dead, after an apparent murder-suicide.

Family members say 77-year-old Ramon Duckworth shot and killed his wife Patricia Monday afternoon inside of Winter Haven Hospital, where she was a patient.

The shooting happened on the fifth floor of the Medical Surgery Unit.

According to family and neighbors, 76-year-old Patricia suffered a stroke in recent months and never recovered. The couple's son tells FOX 13 his father was also in poor health. The son says his parents planned the murder-suicide.

Billy Glenn cut the Duckworths' lawn in Haines City for the past year. He said when he saw Ramon last week, he knew things were not good.

"He just seemed like he was really lonely without his wife with him, and kind of lost."

Patricia had moved into an assisted living facility in Winter Haven, before being admitted to the hospital.

Word spread among the couple's close-knit neighbors that she was not doing well.

"We kind of thought maybe she would pull out of it," said neighbor Bill Smith, who lives across the street. "But then I heard over the weekend that there was some paralysis involved and she may not pull out of it."

The Duckworths' son says his mother had become paralyzed on one side of her body.

Monday, Ramon came to visit his wife apparently with plans of neither of them ever leaving.

"At approximately 1:23 p.m., Winter Haven Police received a call that there had been a shooting here at Winter Haven Hospital," said Sgt. Brad Coleman.

After the gunfire, the Duckworths' daughter-in-law was one of the first to find their bodies. We're told she was visiting Polk County to persuade Patricia and Ramon to move up north.

Following protocol, police are still investigating. Hospital administrators say they had no way of knowing anyone had a gun.

"We trust individuals as they come and go, and it's just a very sad day," said Joel Thomas, Vice President of Winter Haven Hospital.

There's no word whether the hospital will evaluate its security policies, which Thomas says are similar to other public hospitals. Staff members are receiving crisis counseling.

A woman leaving the Duckworth's home Monday declined to talk about what happened.

Neighbors all say the same thing—that Ramon Duckworth just could not live without his wife.

"Maybe she was suffering and if she was going to go, he wanted to go. So maybe he helped her," said Smith.

"It hits you in the heart when something like this happens," Gloria Marcotte told FOX 13.

Patricia and Ramon Duckworth were married almost 60 years.