State trooper to 911: 'I just shot my wife'

The call came in to the Citrus County 911 center at 3 a.m. Sunday.

The man on the phone was calm.

"I would like you to know I just shot my wife and I am going to shoot myself," said the man in a very matter-of-fact voice after being asked for his telephone number.

"I have been depressed and I can't take it anymore," he would later say.

The dispatcher tried in vain to get the man to reconsider suicide.

"I can't tell you I understand what you are going through," said the dispatcher, "but I am sure there is something we can work out."

"Please don't let my son come out here," he asked.

Seconds later, the man ended the conversation.

"I have to go, sir," he said. "Thank you."

The call, which took less than two minutes, ended.

Minutes later, Citrus County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived at the caller's house.

They found Sandra Silcox, 48, dead of a gunshot wound.

They found the caller and her husband, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Eddie Silcox, 48, gravely wounded. He was transported to Citrus Memorial Health System in Inverness, where he died a short time later from his wounds.

The two had been married for 29 years.

People who live on East Seese Lane in Floral City remember Eddie Silcox as a good neighbor and loving husband and father.

After 22 years on the Florida Highway Patrol, the only blemishes on his record were five minor car crashes - four of them not his fault.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office says it has no prior record of calls for service to the house at 4525 E. Seese Lane.

Now friends and family are grieving, colleagues are in shock and deputies are trying to figure out why - a question they may never fully answer.

"They were high school sweethearts," said neighbor Bonnie Dreher. "They were fantastic neighbors. He was a helpful loving neighbor who looked out for everyone."

Family members did not immediately return phone calls.

Social networking sites offer a glimpse of their interests.

On his MySpace page, Eddie Silcox states he live in "Inverness, Florida. I am a Florida State Trooper and have been For Over 20 Years. I'm 46 years old and Married With 2 Kids."

He lists football, NASCAR, fishing and family as interests. He liked country and Christian music and liked to watch Lonesome Dove, O' Brother Where Art Thou, Cool Hand Luke, Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, the Andy Griffith Show and ESPN.

Jesus was his hero.

Sandra Silcox was a registered nurse and director of clinical services for Senior Health Care in Inverness, according to her Facebook page. A woman answering the phone at the health care center was too distraught to talk and referred calls to the corporate headquarters, which did not immediately return a phone call.

On her Facebook page, Sandra Silcox wrote that she loved rodeos.

"I may be a prissy professional from 9 to 5....but the real me loves to wear jeans and boots, go to rodeos and watch my son Colton ride bulls!" she wrote on her Facebook page.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Yates said the couple was "having marriage issues" and that Eddie Silcox hadn't been living at the home for some time.

Yates said she did not have details about the nature of the problems, how long ago Eddie Silcox moved out or where he had moved to.

The gun used to kill his wife and himself was his personal weapon and not a service weapon, she said.

There were no red flags raised with the Florida Highway Patrol, said spokesman Sgt. Larry Kraus.

"Nothing led us to believe that Trooper Silcox was violent or anything like this or that any incident of this nature would have happened," said Kraus.

Mark Welch, FHP's chief of public affairs, said five crashes over 22 years is not unusual for a trooper, "especially since four of them weren't his fault."

The only accident Silcox was faulted for came in 2003, when he backed a trooper car into a stump.
Silcox received eight letters of commendation during his career, Welch said, ranging from working a Super Bowl detail to assisting stranded motorists to helping the Citrus County Sheriff's office.

Eddie Silcox's colleagues were stunned by the news, Kraus said.

"I just don't think they have come to terms with what happened," said Kraus. "There is complete shock throughout the troop. This is one of those things leaves you speechless."

According to deputies, the Silcoxes had been married for 29 years. Yates said they had two sons, one of whom still lived at home but was not present when the shooting occurred.

Trooper Silcox joined FHP in 1988. He was assigned to Highway Patrol Troop C, Yates said. It covers Citrus, Hernando, Sumter, Pasco, Polk, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. He also had been active in
racing at the Citrus County Speedway in Inverness.