The man suspected of murdering his wife and two children in County Fermanagh last week has died in hospital. Fermanagh farmer Ian Rutledge, 43, had recently been named as the individual suspected of murdering his family. Vanessa Whyte, who was originally from County Clare, along with her teenage children, James and Sarah Rutledge, died in a shooting in their home in Maquiresbridge.
Poli in the North saying that a suspected triple murder and attempted suicide was one line of enquiry. Rutledge was brought to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast following the suspected murder suicide, where he had been in a serious condition until his death this evening.
This week, detectives had reiterated their appeal for “anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward.” An appeal had been issued over the weekend for the movements of a silver Mercedes between Maguiresbridge and Newtonbulter on the day prior to the shootings.
Both Sara and James had been students at Eniskillen Royal Grammar School, and had attended Maquiresbridge Primary School.
The school had paid tribute to the siblings, expressing a “heavy heart at their passing.” Both children had been “engaged fully and very successfully in school life and enriched our school community enormously,” it said in a statement.
“As a school community we are very much thinking of the family circle and send our heartfelt condolences to them at this difficult time.”
Over the weekend, a prayer vigil was held in Ms Whyte’s native Barefield, in county Clare. Parish priest in Barefield, Fr Tom Fitzpatrick, said a “cloud had descended” over the community, adding that while he not know Vanessa, as she had left the parish, but did know her mother Mary very well.
“She’s a great parish woman, she’s very involved in the community,” he said.
The priest said the community was “devastated and broken,” adding: “We are a very close knit community in Barefield, like all rural communities when something happens to an individual or to a family the whole community gathers together.”