Pasco detectives ID victims of apparent murder-suicide
LAND O’ LAKES –
They were in Paris, the City of Love, in the spring and on the grounds of the city’s most famous structure.
He timed it just right.
He asked her to marry her and as she said “yes,” the Eiffel Tower lit up the night.
Melissa Marie Howard gushed as she told colleagues at University Community Hospital the story of fiancé David Jon McQuiston’s proposal.
“She thought that was so romantic,” said June Vinyard, nurse manager at the hospital’s Mom, Baby and Gynecological Unit at the Women’s Center.
Sheila Cavender, a team leader in the hospital’s perinatal unit, said Howard on Tuesday talked excitedly about her upcoming fall wedding.It was set for Nov. 9 but there will be no nuptials.
The romance ended with at least two gunshot blasts sometime between Wednesday and Thursday, authorities say.
Detectives believe 36-year-old McQuiston, of 10059 Bedford Road in Spring Hill, shot Howard, 30, before turning the gun on himself.
Their bodies were found Thursday afternoon in a locked bedroom at Howard’s home at 22535 Stillwood Drive in Lake Padgett Estates when co-workers went to check on her after she didn’t show up for work at The Women’s Group in Tampa Palms. Co-workers declined to comment Friday.
According to her biography on the group’s Web site, Howard was a certified nurse practitioner. She graduated from the nursing program at the University of South Florida and later earned a master’s degree in nursing and another in nursing education.
“The Women’s Group allows me to provide the most comprehensive and compassionate care for all women throughout their lifespan,” Howard wrote for her biography.
Not only did she work at the group, she became a clinical nursing instructor for women’s health at Hillsborough Community College. She was recently named coordinator for the Hillsborough chapter of the Association for Women’s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nurses.
“She was tenacious. She knew what she wanted,” Vinyard said. “She was very smart and a hard worker, very nice – the kind of person you wanted to be friends with.”
She was at UCH almost daily doing rounds for patients there.
“She was so gentle and wonderful,” Cavender said.
Colleagues were still stunned Friday.
“Most people are still in shock because there was no indication of problems,” Vinyard said. “Everybody here is devastated. She was well liked.”
On her left hand Howard wore a “beautiful,” large, diamond engagement ring from Tiffany & Co. Cavender doesn’t know how many karats the stone weighed but she knows at least one thing about the ring.
“I’m gonna tell you, it’s expensive,” she said.
Cavender said she met McQuiston briefly once.
“He seemed to be very nice,” she said.
Pasco detectives are still investigating the case, trying to determine a motive, said sheriff’s office spokesman Kevin Doll.
Deputies had no prior calls to Howard’s home, Doll said. McQuiston has had some brushes with the law in the past, including one in Miami-Dade County in April for a failure to appear in court charge but the details weren’t immediately clear. His occupation is listed as sales, state record show.
Those who knew Howard have many questions they want answered. They hope the answers will come soon.
“We are all absolutely baffled,” said Cavender. “…She just didn’t deserve this.”
Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.
