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Deaths Of Shady Hills Couple Said To Be Homicides

Tribune photo by CHRISTINE DELESSIO

Michelle Dillow talks about her neighbors, David Ray Wright and Sherrill Shelton Wright, who were killed in their home.

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By Lisa A. Davis

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2008

Updated: 02/12/2008 06:05 pm

SHADY HILLS - Michelle Dillow sat on her front porch Tuesday morning talking on a telephone and looking on as Pasco County sheriff's detectives and crime scene technicians searched for clues to who killed her neighbors and why.

Relatives of David Ray and Sherrill Shelton Wright discovered the couple's bodies Monday night at their home at 18101 Moorhaven Drive, sheriff's officials say. The family members told authorities they didn't have a cell phone and couldn't find a phone in the house so they had to go to a nearby gas station and call for help.

Details about their deaths haven't been released, only that they both had suffered trauma consistent with homicidal violence. Investigators now have a person of interest but haven't released a name.

Back on her porch, Dillow, her eye's wet, said she didn't realize anything was wrong next door.

"What bothers me is I didn't see anything. I haven't heard anything," she said, fighting back tears.

She had noticed that the Wrights' dogs hadn't been outside since before the weekend.

"They have the dogs, and they love to antagonize the horses," said Dillow, whose horses roam behind her house.

The 40-year-old woman said she also noticed that David Wright's silver Toyota Tundra pickup hasn't been parked outside his home since Friday.

"I thought maybe he was out of town," she said.

She said Wright was a building contractor who worked both local and out-of-town jobs. It wasn't unusual for him to come and go or to have other workers in and out of his home.

She said she thinks the killer must be someone the couple knew because the dogs didn't make a commotion. She described the dogs as "mean" and protective."

In fact, sheriff's officials had the dogs removed by animal control because they were protecting the bodies.

"I just hope they find them," she said.

David Wright, she said, often helped her and her mother with chores around the house. Sherrill Wright kept to herself more, she said, but was pleasant.

"They were the nicest people," Dillow said. "They'd do anything in the world for people. … They were so good. They are going to be so dearly missed."

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