Steve Michael Doyle, 56, who had already served time for the murder of a woman he knew back in 1988, is being charged for the shooting death of his wife before an arson which was intended to be a suicide. 54-year-old Mary Sue Doyle was his latest alleged victims. Collin County, TX authorities are charging him with 1st degree murder and 2nd degree arson.
Authorities were first called to the scene when an unidentified neighbor spotted the burning home located in the 5000 block of County Road 468, ran inside and pulled Mr. Doyle out of harm’s way around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, April 19. Several neighboring fire departments responded to the blaze and doused the flames when they discovered Mrs. Doyle’s body.
No one suspected Mrs. Doyle may have been murdered until an autopsy revealed she died before the fire had started. Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. William Rohr’s examination revealed Mrs. Doyle died from a single gunshot to the wound.Collin County Fire Marshal Steve Deffibaugh also said Dr. Rohr found no traces of carbon dioxide, meaning she had not been breathing during the fire and must have died before it started.
Fire officials found traces of accelerants after initially believing that the fire had been left by unattended candles.
Officials said that Deiffbaugh admitted to shooting his wife to death after an argument, then setting a fire to commit suicide, but according to officials, he did not think that a neighbor would pull up and rescue him.
This was Deiffbaugh's 2nd murder charge regarding a woman he knew. He served 7 years of a 20 year sentence for the muder of Renee Morris in Orlands, FL in 1988. Morris was working under him at the former company Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin).
Morris failed to show up for work on Aug. 2, 1988 and Doyle claimed he went to her apartment to look for her when he discovered her body in her ransacked apartment. Orange County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Morris had not been killed during a burglary attempt and only she and Doyle had a set of keys to her apartment, according to story archives.
Doyle admitted to police that he and Morris went out for tacos the same night and returned to her apartment before he went home. An autopsy revealed the tacos Morris had eaten had not been fully digested and a former Orange County medical examiner concluded Morris had to have died one to two hours after she had eaten them, which was during the time Doyle admitted he had been with her, according to story archives.
Orange County prosecutors weren’t able to make a murder charge stick and dropped the charge in October of 1989 due to lack of solid evidence. After two more attempts, prosecutors charged Doyle with second degree murder in August of 1991 with only a year left before the case’s statue of limitations would have run out, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Office records.
Prosecutors tested the medical examiner’s digestion theory by feeding tacos to six volunteers and discovered the volunteers had digested as much food as Morris did in the amount of time they believe she was still alive. A jury found the evidence was enough to convict Doyle of second degree murder and sentenced him to 20 years in state prison. Doyle would only serve six years and six months of his sentence in prison before earning an early release in 1993, according to jail records.
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