BOZEMAN — Two persons of interest in a homicide in Billings last week died in an apparent homicide-suicide near West Yellowstone, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said.
Henry Porter, 22, and Erika Miller, 28, both died of single gunshot wounds to the head, officials said Monday. Both were from Billings. The sheriff’s office did not say who was believed to have fired the fatal shots.
Law enforcement officers were searching for Porter and Miller after police conducting a welfare check found Roxann Renee Watson, 64, dead on April 15. She had been beaten and strangled, Yellowstone County Coroner Rich Hoffman said. It was not immediately clear when she had died.
An investigation led officers to seek Porter and Miller for questioning.
Officers from state and federal agencies were involved in a pursuit of their vehicle at about 10:30 p.m. the same day when the suspects got out of the vehicle and ran into the woods near West Yellowstone, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) from Billings.
The officers did not pursue them into the woods, but set up a perimeter, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said.
Officers heard two gunshots. The county’s K9 unit found the bodies of Porter and Miller about four hours later, Springer said.