A Man Killed His Wife And Then Walked Into Traffic To Get Hit By Semi-Truck

Two Madison residents were killed Sunday when the husband shot his wife before walking into traffic twice to kill himself. He was hit by a semi on Interstate 90 for the second time and died, police said.

The names of the couple, both 45, how the woman was killed, or whether anyone else was in the home at 6 Darien Circle where the murder occurred have not been released by police. Nevertheless, their neighbors identified them as Jason and Jessica Wray, and city records show the couple has owned the home since 2014.

At a press conference Monday, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said people outside the couple’s residence reported someone was dead at about 3:20 p.m. Sunday.

“Officers on the scene were able to determine that the victim had been violently attacked,” he said. Emergency responders were not able to save her life.

According to their UW Health pages, both were physician assistants at UW Health who graduated from the University of Iowa. According to Barnes, police had no prior records of calls to the address.

Photos on Jessica Wray’s Facebook page show the couple with three young children. Police declined to say if the couple had children or anyone else lived in the home.

As police were trying to locate the victim’s husband, who they had determined was the main suspect in her death, dispatchers began receiving calls about a man on foot on the Beltline near Old Sauk Road who had been hit by a vehicle on foot, Barnes and the State Patrol reported. He then got back in his Honda CRV and drove to the interstate.

Barnes said the man, identified as the dead woman’s husband, again got out of his vehicle on foot and stepped in front of a semi-truck. “This time, he stepped in front of a semi-truck,” Barnes said.

State Patrol Sgt. Jason Holtz said in a statement that the collision occurred around 3:36 p.m. in the west lanes of the interstate near Buckeye Road.

The semi-driver, a 71-year-old woman from Spokane, was unhurt in the accident.

There was a significant police presence at the Darien Circle home following Sunday’s murder, including the Madison Police Department’s crime scene investigation unit.

The yellow police tape had been removed, and no sign of a police investigation remained on Monday. The driveway had a basketball hoop, hanging ferns, and a play structure.

He urged anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help from the police or others. He said police complete reports on all domestic violence calls, regardless of whether they are substantiated.

As Aurielle Smith, who oversees violence prevention at Public Health Madison and Dane County, points out, severe domestic violence cases are more likely to involve attackers who have never been convicted of a crime.

“If you believe you are a victim of domestic violence or know someone who is, we must take these cases seriously,” Barnes said.

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