Woman kills husband, shoots son in apparent Dyer County murder-suicide

The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting in the rural Tennessee community of Lenox that left a married couple dead and their adult son critically injured.

Deputies said they responded to a shooting Thursday morning at a home on Tar Hill Road, where they found William John Lydon Jr. and his 24-year-old son both shot.

John was pronounced dead at the scene. His son was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with two gunshot wounds.

Missing from the scene was John’s wife and his son’s mother, 60-year-old Sherry Lydon, who became a primary suspect.

Authorities said Sherry left the house and, in an apparent suicide, they determined that she drove on the wrong side of I-155 and collided head-on with an 18-wheeler.

She later died from her injuries at the hospital. The driver of the semi was not injured.

Deputies said Sherry killed her husband while he was sleeping and shot her 24-year-old son before leaving the home. 

Investigators said she had recently undergone surgery and was reportedly experiencing mental health problems and a sleep disorder afterward, which could have played a factor in her behavior.



Dyer County squad car and wrecked semi on I-155 (Dyer County Sheriffs Dept.)