The deaths of a Chevy Chase couple found Wednesday in their home have been ruled a murder-suicide with the husband shooting his wife and then apparently himself, Montgomery County police said Monday in a statement.
Kate Simoni Fralin, 61, and William Scott Fralin, 63, were found dead at the residence in the 8500 block of Connecticut Avenue on Wednesday. Police identified the pair Friday.
According to police, officers and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews responded at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to the residence for a welfare check.
The couple were found with apparent gunshot wounds, according to Monday’s statement. They were pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said, and a gun and ammunition were located nearby.
The bodies were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for autopsies. Kate Simoni Fralin’s manner of death was determined to be homicide, the statement said. The official cause and manner of death for William Scott Fralin are pending, but his death is being investigated as a suicide.
According to a Monday obituary in The Washington Post for the couple, Kate Simoni Fralin was a real estate agent with the Dana Rice Group in Chevy Chase. William “Bill” Scott Fralin was an elder law attorney in private practice. The pair married in 1988 and have three children.
Kate Simoni Fralin, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, began her 25-year public relations career at Ogilvy & Mather Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., according to the obituary. Her career included communications leadership roles at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, MCI, Fannie Mae, and her own consultancy, plus a “pivot” to “create one of the first sustainable fashion brands in the U.S., Good Jeans Co.,” before she joined the real estate firm, Dana Rice Group.
She was a “beloved colleague,” and often volunteered for nonprofits and community service organizations. She was also an accomplished athlete and created a decades-long book club that “brought together women who loved reading with a side dish of juicy celebrity gossip,” according to the obituary.
“Despite her unexpected passing, it is important to know that Kate lived a big, bold, bright, loving, and joy-filled life,” the obituary said. “She was everyone’s cheerleader and confidante and the glue that held together many friendship and community groups.”
According to the obituary, William Scott Fralin was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, and began his career as a trust officer at First American Bank in Washington, D.C. He was known for handling estate planning “with grace, kindness, and gentle humor,” and his “family meant everything to him.”
He also loved music, talking about politics and was an amateur photographer “who catalogued every social gathering with photographs kept lovingly in albums,” the obituary said. William Scott Fralin was open with his lifelong struggle with depression and addiction, according to the obituary, and was a “beloved member” of the D.C.-area recovery community.
According to the obituary, the couple recently renovated and renovated a historic home in Cape May, New Jersey, which was Kate Simoni Fralin’s “happy place.”
“No one could have anticipated how Bill’s life and Kate’s life ended, and their family and friends ask for grace as they grieve and come to terms with this unimaginable loss,” the obituary said.
