Names released in Jo Co murder-suicide

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Oregon State Police have released the names of a man and woman involved in a Merlin murder-suicide on July 11, the second in Josephine County within a week. The victim is 27-year-old Kristina L. Mehaffey; her suspected killer is ex-boyfriend Jeremy L. Sweet, 28. Both were of Josephine County, OSP said. OSP troopers responded to a domestic disturbance at an undisclosed address in Merlin at about 11 p.m. July 11 and found a woman driver dead in a passenger van in the driveway. About a mile away, a second vehicle was found with a male driver dead inside from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. It was the second murder-suicide in Josephine County within a week. In the first, 27-year-old Rachel Shoemaker killed her 8-year-old son and then herself at their Grants Pass home on July 8. The boy died as he was being prepared for an airlift to a Portland hospital, and Shoemaker died at a local hospital, Grants Pass police said.