Osage County Murder-Suicide Caught On Camera, Deputies Say

Thursday, August 9th 2018, 5:51 pm

By: Amy Kauffman

What Osage County deputies believe to be a murder-suicide was caught on camera.

Investigators said an ex-wife went to return some property to her ex-husband when things got out of hand.

Investigators said it's very rare to have a crime like this caught on camera but in this case, they were thankful to be able to answer a lot of questions that would've remained unanswered throughout the investigation.

Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden said his office got a call from FedEx saying a driver found Sidney Wilson dead of a gunshot wound to the back.

“He simply was delivering a package. When he got to the residence he discovered a male body laying in the driveway. At that time he left the area to obtain cell phone service to contact us,” said investigator Kevin Burke.

Deputies found Sue Ann Branson's body inside the home and realized a home security system was recording the entire time.

"Shortly after arriving the video shows that there was some property exchange and then the husband followed her back to the vehicle and then was confronted with a gun and was shot," said Sheriff Virden.

After the shooting, video shows Branson went back inside then left for six hours before coming back to the house. There was no surveillance inside the home but investigators say Branson's body was found inside with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"I've done this for over 30 years and this is one of the first times I've ever actually been fortunate enough to have caught the incident on video," Virden said.

Investigators said in situations like this, it's rare to have so many of the answers that help them piece together what happened.

“I mean we still have a lot of questions as to why this may have happened but we now know who did it and there's no question on who committed the homicide and took their own life,” Burke said.

If you're involved in an instance where you have to return property or you're nervous to go back, Sheriff Virden recommends that you have a Deputy come along so the situation doesn't escalate like this one did.