Man, Daughter Found Dead in Apartment

The bodies of an elderly man and his middle-aged daughter were found in their home on the city’s east side Monday afternoon, in what police are calling an apparent murder-suicide.

William Walsh, 81, and Kerry Carrassi, 52, were found about 4 p.m. in the living room of their apartment in a large subsidized housing complex in the 6000 block of Telephone Road.

Each had died of a single gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Because officials found no evidence of a forced entry or signs of a struggle, police said the two probably died in a murder-suicide on Christmas Eve, when neighbors reported hearing what they thought were fireworks.

Officials have not determined which family member may have fired the revolver, which was found in the living room.

In a written statement, police officials suggested it could have been a double suicide, though officers at the scene said the apartment’s back door was open when they arrived.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, police say, neighbors heard what sounded like two firecrackers, perhaps as much as a minute apart. Neighbors did not report hearing sounds of a domestic dispute.

With three days of newspapers piled up on the front doorstep by Monday, the resident manager of the housing complex entered the two-bedroom apartment and found the bodies of Walsh on the sofa and Carrassi on a nearby chair.

Neighbors described the man and his daughter as quiet people who kept to themselves. Carrassi, a registered nurse, moved in with her widower father a few years ago to care for him, neighbors said.

“He seemed like a pretty nice man to me,” said Clarence Wolfgang, who lives in an adjacent apartment unit. “And her, too. She quit her job to take care of him.”

Mitch Breese, a senior deputy at the Ventura County medical examiner’s office, said both victims had been in poor health.

Walsh apparently had a heart condition, and Carrassi suffered from depression and an unspecified physical injury. Carrassi, who was divorced with no children, had been taking medication for both her injury and depression, Breese said.

Walsh’s stepdaughter, Andrea Faulkner, also of Ventura, arrived at the apartment Monday evening to check on her family after trying to reach them by phone. Police took her into a adjacent apartment to inform her of the two deaths, and neighbors tried to console the sobbing woman.