Police Believe Suicide Likely in 2 Deaths

A day after the bodies of a La Conchita couple were found in their home, authorities said Tuesday they consider suicide a more likely explanation for the deaths than a double murder.

Robert A. Kruger, 37, and his girlfriend, Christine Churchill, 28, were found dead in a bedroom of their San Fernando Avenue home by the woman’s 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son. Autopsies were conducted Tuesday morning.

“It does not appear to be homicides at this time,” said coroner’s investigator Jim Wingate. “We found no trauma on the bodies. There was no evidence of foul play in the residence and no sign of burglary or robbery.”

Wingate acknowledged that investigators had not discovered any drugs, alcohol or suicide note in the residence. Blood tests may shed more light on the deaths, but he said they will take four to six weeks to complete.

Neighbors had not seen the couple since Friday evening. They had lived together in the seaside hamlet one mile south of the Santa Barbara County line for several months, Wingate said.

“We haven’t found anything in the house to explain the cause of death, if indeed it is an overdose or a suicide,” he said. “I was told by various people that he was having financial problems. And I was told by some family members that she had a history of depression, so the combination may have been very bad for the two of them.”

Kruger was a financial planner with Paine Webber in Oxnard. Neighbors said he had complained of financial problems recently. He also had appeared despondent over losing custody of a 3-year-old son from a previous relationship, they said. Kruger is also survived by two daughters, ages 13 and 16, who live in Santa Barbara with his estranged wife.

Contacted at her home Tuesday, Kruger’s wife declined to comment on her husband’s death, saying only that he was a “good daddy.”

Churchill’s two children, who had been with a baby sitter over the weekend, remain in the custody of county officials. Her mother and father are en route from their home in Saudi Arabia, but it is unclear who will look after the children permanently.

Churchill was separated from her husband, who lives in Agoura Hills with a 3-year-old son from their marriage.