Kerry Repp�s autopsy points to homicide

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2002-11-21

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Kerry Repp�s autopsy points to homicide By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT � An autopsy revealed that a 29-year-old pregnant woman found dead in her home Saturday was the victim of a homicide � not suicide, as some had speculated. Her husband, Oregon State Police Trooper Gary Marvin Repp Jr., was the only "person of interest" police named Wednesday. "The case is a homicide, and it�s very complex," said Central Point police Chief Mike Sweeny. "It�s all circumstantial." Kerry Michele Repp was shot more than once with the handgun found near her body, according to Sweeny. Sweeny declined to discuss where on her body Kerry Repp was shot or exactly how many bullet wounds medical examiners found in the autopsy, completed late Tuesday. Gary Repp, a 32-year-old Oregon Army National Guard captain, was scheduled to leave today for training and then a six-month peacekeeping mission to Egypt. But police expect him to stay in town, Sweeny said. The National Guard had no official statement on Gary Repp�s status Wednesday, said Capt. Scott Granger at the Guard�s 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry Brigade headquarters in Ashland. Granger said he could not comment on whether Gary Repp would depart with other Guard troops. "We�re looking at the best interests of the soldier right now and his family," Granger said. Sweeny said he understood that Gary Repp�s orders had been changed or that he was given an extension for his departure date. Police did not request a change in orders, Sweeny said. Neither Gary Repp nor members of his family would comment. Kerry Repp�s family would not discuss the case Wednesday. Her brother, 32-year-old Mike Johnson, said that police asked the family not to talk to reporters. A memorial service for Kerry Repp has been set for 3 p.m. Saturday at First Church of the Nazarene, 1974 E. McAndrews Road in Medford. Gary Repp graduated from the Oregon State Police Academy last month and trained for seven days at the regional headquarters office in Central Point. He officially is on leave without pay because he was called up for Guard duty in the course of his training, said OSP Lt. Dan Durbin. Gary Repp was scheduled to return to the OSP � assigned to the Lakeview District � after a nine-month service with the Guard, Durbin said. Repp is a former county and state probation officer who quit in December to become a police officer. In addition to Gary Repp, police were working either to eliminate or identify several other persons of interest as suspects in the case, Sweeny said. They declined to name any suspects in connection with the case Wednesday. "We�re working on multiple people," Sweeny said. "Everybody is still a possibility." Investigators were still wading through "a mountain of physical evidence and statements" Wednesday, Sweeny said. Kerry Repp�s father, Ron Johnson, found her dead in her Hazel Street home at about 1 p.m. Saturday. Gary Repp and the couple�s two children were at a T-ball game when the body was found, police said. Investigators initially were unsure whether the death was a suicide, accident or a homicide. Kerry Repp had filed for divorce last month from Gary Repp, her second husband. But the papers were never served, and the couple was living together trying to reconcile. Friends told police that the two had a rocky relationship, Sweeny said. Donations to an education fund for the Repp children can be made at any branch of U.S. Bank. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected]     Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2002 Mail Tribune, Inc.