Homicide-suicide rocks Maysville

By LINDELL KAY and MIKE MCHUGH

Daily News Staff

MAYSVILLE — A neighbor’s grim discovery of a murder-suicide Saturday night shattered the usual serenity of a tight-knit White Oak River Road community.

A man whose family said he had been depressed drove to the home he owned with a woman he lived with more than a decade but was recently estranged, killed her then took his own life, said Onslow County Sheriff’s Maj. Donnie Worrell.

Neighbors identified the man and woman as Peter Terrance Moonan and Karen Ann Rooney, who purchased 1689 White Oak River Road together in 2002, according to Onslow County Tax Office records.

Moonan moved out about a year ago, a neighbor said.

Velda Bynum said Moonan and Rooney had been good neighbors. Bynum said “Rooney was very good to my grandchildren.”

One of Bynum’s grandsons went to Rooney’s residence to introduce his new wife to Rooney when through the back door he saw Moonan sitting in a chair, covered in blood. He first thought Moonan had an accident and called 911, but quickly realized what had happened.

“He didn’t see Karen,” Robert Bynum said of his son. “Thank God.”

The Bynum family, who live across the road from where Rooney did, sat under their carport Sunday morning reflecting about Saturday evening’s events and the four years they had known Rooney.

They said neighbors on their stretch of White Oak River Road look out for one another as well as each other’s pets, the Bynums said. Robert Bynum said it was not unusual for Rooney to have dog food on hand just in case a neighbor’s animal came around.

Velda Bynum said Rooney was “a loving, caring person who loved the beach and gardening.”

Rooney’s home is landscaped with conk shells, solar lights and a large vegetable garden. A screened porch looks out over a sylvan backyard.

After Bynum’s grandson called 911, investigators arrived and stayed throughout the night processing the scene. A lone blue latex glove balled up in the gravel driveway and gurney drag marks were evidence visible outside the home that a crime had occurred. Moonan’s white Volkswagen and Rooney’s gray Saturn were parked side-by-side along the edge of the driveway.

The yellow porch light was still illuminated.

Moonan’s family said he had been depressed, according to investigators.

Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com.