STUART – According to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith, deputies responded to a residence on Horace Lane in Stuart on Monday morning at approximately 10:46 AM to investigate a shooting. Smith stated that a family member had went to the residence shortly after 10:30 AM on Monday and discovered two bodies inside of the home and subsequently notified the sheriff’s office. Deputies arrived on scene and found the body Michael David Lawson, 32, who had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Also found inside the residence was Misty Dawn Blevins, 30, who had died of a single gunshot wound. Lawson and Blevins lived together at the residence on Horace Lane. Smith stated that his office is treating the investigation as a murder-suicide. According to the sheriff, evidence suggests that Lawson shot and killed Blevins and then committed suicide sometime during the previous two days. The investigation is continuing and both bodies will undergo an autopsy at the state medical examiner’s office in Roanoke. Criminal investigators with the Virginia State Police are assisting the sheriff’s office with the investigation.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Sheriff Dan Smith confidentially at 276-692-7012 or Investigator Brian Hubbard 276-692-6512.