UPDATE: Double murder, suicide rocks Oklahoma town

NORMAN, Okla.  — An Oklahoma man shot and killed his estranged wife and her divorce lawyer, then took his own life, police reported Wednesday.

Police said the double-murder occurred late Tuesday night in this University of Oklahoma community 20 miles south of Oklahoma City.

A tip led police to discover the suspected killer in a field 30 miles west of the murder scene Wednesday morning. When they approached him, he shot himself dead. He had been the subject of a massive manhunt.

The victims were identified as Cayann Patterson, 49, and attorney Bryan Young, 47, a former principal at Norman North High School.

The husband was identified as Timothy Michael Deffner, 51. An arrest warrant had been issued for him Monday on five counts of forgery. He also had pending cases for leaving the scene of an accident and malicious property damage, and convictions for illegal possession of drugs and driving with a suspended license.

Patterson, who had twice taken out protective orders against Deffner, was scheduled to appear in court next Monday for a status conference on her divorce proceedings against him.

In an Aug. 24, 2015, protective order petition, Patterson described her husband as violent, saying he had fired a stun gun at her chest and held her “up against the wall with his hands around my throat.” She also said he possessed guns and threatened to kill her children and “have me watch before he kills me.”

Young had represented Patterson in her divorce case against Deffner.

Police said they responded to a call at Young’s Norman residence at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. He died a short time later at a local hospital, where he was taken for treatment of gunshot wounds. Police said his wife and children were home at the time but they were not harmed.

Patterson was then found dead at her Norman residence from gunshot wounds after the Norman Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in her neighborhood. She was alone at the time of the murder, police said.

Police said they were not sure which victim the killer attacked first.

The community reacted emotionally to the tragedy. Young worked for the Norman public schools for 17 years, the last five as a high school principal, and was widely known. He left in 2014 to pursue a legal career.

 “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bryan Young,” said Dr. Joseph Siano, superintendent of schools. “Bryan was a respected colleague and friend and he will be remembered as a ferocious advocate for our students. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and the many people in our community who knew him.”

Attorney Stanley Ward, Young’s employer, said Young had served the Norman community in many ways in different capacities. “He was deprived and denied the opportunity to continue that because of a senseless act of a deranged killer.”

Details for this story were provided by the Norman, Okla., Transcript.

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