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Man Kills Wife, Turns Gun On Self

Crime scene tape is seen near the home where 2 bodies were discovered Saturday morning.

Anthony Allred/News Channel 8

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2007

Updated: 09/29/2007 10:12 pm

TAMPA - Roy and Anna Burgess were more like family than friends, neighbors said.

The idyllic calm of their Hunter's Green gated community in North Tampa was shattered early Saturday by the sound of gunfire and the apparent murder-suicide of the prominent and beloved couple.

Police said marital problems motivated Roy Burgess, 53, to shoot his 48-year-old wife in their front yard and moments later himself in their home.

With its manicured lawns and security gates, the pricey Deer Creek development at Hunter's Green is hardly the kind of neighborhood where gunfire might be a common noise. Police, however, said no one called 911 when shots erupted at midnight.

Later in the morning, a resident saw Anna Burgess lying in the shrubs outside the front door and called authorities, Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

Police arrived about 10 a.m., soon followed by the department's Tactical Response Team after someone noticed movement inside the home, according to police.

An hour later, officers entered the house and found Roy Burgess dead in a hallway, Davis said.

A long-barreled gun, possibly a rifle or shotgun, was nearby.

No note has been found. Police have no record of visiting the home before, Davis said.

Everyone whom investigators questioned expressed shock, but some witnesses were aware of marital problems between the two, she said.

The couple had been living together while divorcing, police said.

"But no one saw any warning signs and certainly no one expected this," Davis said. "Apparently, it was very uncharacteristic of him."

Couple's Parenting Admired

Some neighbors sobbed as they talked about the Burgesses, who were admired in the close-knit community for their generosity of time and for being involved parents to their two teenage sons, Jason and Justin.

Neither son was home during the shooting, Davis said.

Jason attends the University of Central Florida, neighbors said. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 2004.

Justin, a Wharton High sophomore and second baseman for the school team, learned of the tragedy during a Saturday game at the school.

"It was in the second inning and the coaches stopped the game and everybody left," teammate Cyler Porter said. The 15-year-old right fielder said the news shocked everyone on the team.

"It was completely unexpected. Miss Burgess was like our team mom" and attended all of the games, Porter said.

Porter said Justin was among several teammates who attended Friday night's Wharton football game and spent the night afterward at the Deer Creek Drive home of teammate Spencer Bowles.

Porter said he visited the Burgess home as recently as Friday evening. "There was never any fighting I knew of. Mr. Burgess was always a nice guy."

Anna Burgess was attractive, athletic and extremely compassionate, neighbor Denise Jacobs said. She excelled at tennis at the community's athletic club.

The former dental hygienist was the kind of mother who played catch with her sons in their yard, who would cook meals for grieving friends and who stayed active as a past president of the Hunter's Green Elementary PTA.

Jacobs said her friend of 12 years once led a group of residents to help a neighborhood couple who had lost a son in an auto crash a few years ago. She and friends prepared meals as the parents sat at the son's bedside and visited them in the hospital before their son was taken off life support.

"Anna was just like the perfect neighbor, the perfect wife and the perfect mother," Jacobs said. "She was beautiful, organized and would do anything for you.

"I'm just in shock that anyone could do something like that," she said of the shooting. "I can't imagine what led up to that. [Anna] was a friend to everybody. Surely there was somebody she could have reached out to if she had a problem."

There was talk, though, that Anna had put a lock on the bedroom door, Jacobs said.

"I don't know why," Jacobs said. "I just wish if there was trouble she would have let someone know."

'I Never Saw Him Get Upset'

Roy Burgess was considered dependable, calm and steadfast, neighbor Rick Ivester said. He had worked in the health care and insurance fields and was past president of Deer Creek's homeowners association.

"This is absolutely the worst kind of tragedy you can have," Ivester said. "We have lost some very fine people."

For several years as association president, Roy Burgess helped the community he adopted to grow and practically hand-picked his successor.

"I was president after him, and he sort of twisted my arm to do it," Ivester said. "I told him I would do it if I could call on him for help. … Everybody loved them. He was probably the one guy in my neighborhood that I'd talk the most to."

Ivester said Roy Burgess had a calm personality. "I never saw him get upset," he said.

"The world is missing two of the finest people - loving and caring," he said. "These kinds of things just aren't fair to these people."

Ivester said he didn't know what problems might have surfaced in the marriage.

"That's a question we won't ever have the answer to," he said. "They had a beautiful house, beautiful kids. We only get to know what we're shown with anybody."

Reporters George Wilkens and John Allman contributed to this story. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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