Garner murder-suicide leaves neighbors stunned

GARNER -- Minutes after Daniel Jonathan Powell, 52, shot Doreen Powell, 46, to death in their Garner home late Thursday morning, he dialed 911 and spoke to the operator as casually as someone passing the time of day.

“Hi. How are you doing?” Powell asked the dispatcher.

“Fine,” the dispatcher answered. “And you?”

It was then he reported that he had killed his wife, the mother of their four daughters.

"… Okay, um, well, I ah, I just want to confess to a murder.”

When did it happen, the dispatcher asked.

“Aah, actually it occurred about five minutes ago,” Powell answered.

The dispatcher asked Powell to hold for a moment. And when she left the line, there was a loud sound like a gunshot, followed by a loud dial tone.

Police arrived about an hour later at the Powell’s home at 217 Whithorne Drive, just off Timber Drive. They found both Powells dead in an upstairs bedroom. They also found ammunition, two handwritten notes, a shell casing and a handgun, according to a search warrant application made public Friday at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.

Police announced on Friday that they also found a knife in the home and that Doreen Powell had visible knife and gunshot wounds.

The apparent murder-suicide has mystified both the police and neighbors who described the Powells as a kind, friendly couple who had a teenage daughter living at home and grandsons visited often.

During a press conference Friday at the Garner Police Department, Sgt. Chris Clayton said the police had been called to the residence four times previously, but there were no reports of domestic issues. The most recent call was in 2003 for an animal complaint, Clayton said.

Moreover, there were never reports of crime at the residence and Daniel Powell did not have a criminal history, police reported.

Cathy Mason, the Powell’s next door neighbor and a close friend, said the husband and wife were both postal workers. Daniel Powell retired from the U.S. Army years ago. Doreen Powell was a member of the National Guard and was deployed to Iraq for a year about three years ago.

Before leaving for Iraq, Doreen took a picture of her grandson, Jaylen, and his best friend, Holden, who is Mason’s 8-year-old son.

“She said that picture was one of the things that kept her going,” Mason said.

Mason said the couple loved their four grandchildren, all boys and their four daughters. It was a common sight to see Doreen, “Dee,” playing outside with her grandsons, while Dan puttered around the house, painting, raking or mowing the lawn and fixing up things.

“Dan was involved with the kids too,” Mason said. “He was musically inclined . He would show his grandsons how to play the guitar and the drums. He had a set of drums in the house.”

Police have not yet determined why Daniel Powell shot his wife and before turning the handgun on himself.

The Powells’ neighbors are trying to make sense of what happened too, and why.

“Dan was not a monster,” Mason said. “I don’t know that we’ll ever know why.”

News researcher Peggy Neal contributed to this report.