Double Homicide, Suicide Under Investigation

The bodies of a woman and her step mother were found at their residence on Allen’s Chapel Road Thursday afternoon, the victims of an apparent shooting and stabbing while the man believed responsible for their deaths died Friday evening at Vanderbilt Hospital of a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Dead are 21 year old Heather Nichole Eley and her step mother 42 year old Lori Ann Eley.
The suspect, 22 year old Brandon Michael Gray of Foster Road Smithville, died Friday evening at Vanderbilt Hospital. He was the ex-boyfriend of Heather Eley.
Sheriff Patrick Ray told WJLE that Gray called 911 from his cell phone at 3:45 p.m. asking that someone be sent to the residence on Allen’s Chapel Road to check on his children. Gray said that he thought something was wrong there.
Since the residence is located near the city limits line, both a Smithville Police Officer and a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Deputy were dispatched to the home. Officers arrived and found the front door locked but they were able to enter through a back door. A boy and girl, both under the age of three, were found in the home. They were unharmed. The bodies of the two women were discovered in the living room and kitchen area. Sheriff Ray said that it appeared that the women had been shot and stabbed.
The officers removed the children from the residence and summoned other law enforcement officers and detectives to the scene. The children, who belong to Gray and Heather Eley, are now in the care of the Department of Children Services.
Sheriff Ray said that after Gray was identified as a person of interest, officers began looking for him. A deputy later spotted who he thought was Gray in a green Mazda pulling out of the parking lot of the Mapco Express convenience market at the corner of East Broad Street and North Congress Boulevard in Smithville. The officer got behind the car on Highway 56 north and radioed central dispatch to run the tag number. It revealed that the car was registered to one of the victims. The deputy tried to pull over the car but it failed to stop. The officer and a sheriff’s department detective then initiated a pursuit from near the city limits to the intersection of Rolling Acres Road in the county. As the car pulled over and came to a stop, the officers heard a gunshot. They rushed to the vehicle and found that the driver, Gray, had shot himself in the head. The officers called for an ambulance and Gray was taken to DeKalb Community Hospital. Because of the weather, Gray could not be airlifted so he was transported by ground ambulance from the local hospital to Vanderbilt hospital in Nashville.
Sheriff Ray said that authorities have the pistol that Gray used to shoot himself. They have also recovered from the Eley home, kitchen knives which may have been used in the stabbing of the two women. The bodies have been sent to Nashville for an autopsy.
Authorities will not yet comment on a possible motive for the murders.
The case remains under investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and TBI Special Agent Billy Miller. Members of the Smithville Police Department, District Attorney General’s Office, and Tennessee Highway Patrol all assisted at the scene.