WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Feb. 13, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A West Valley City grandmother shot in the head last month — allegedly by her grandson — has died.
Elaine Manning, 67, died Wednesday, Feb. 8, according to her obituary, 16 days after being shot.
Manning was shot on Jan. 24 in a domestic incident that claimed the life of her son, 46-year-old Gregory VanDeMerwe, who was also shot in the head. VanDeMerwe was the father of the man charged in the crime, Michael Gregory VanDeMerwe, 23.
Paul Manning, 68 and Elaine’s husband, was stabbed, but survived.
According to charging documents, Elaine Manning called 911 that day, and told the dispatcher her grandson, Michael VanDeMerwe, was stabbing her husband, and her son was was attempting to subdue his son.
Manning then told the operator that her grandson had a gun. “Michael, please don’t,” she said. The sound of a gunshot was then heard by the dispatcher.
Officers responding to the grandparents’ home, near 4000 South and 1500 West, found Gregory VanDeMerwe and Elaine Manning, with fatal gunshot wounds to their heads, and Paul Manning with four stab wounds, the charges say.
A probable cause statement indicated that officers interviewed VanDeMerwe, “… and during his interview, he confessed to using the shotgun to shoot two persons in the home and a knife to injure the third,” the statement says.
“The suspect made admissions to suggest his intentions were to end their lives,” the statement says. “At the time of the interview, the suspect believed that all three people in the house were deceased or going to be.”
VanDeMerwe was charged Feb. 2 in 3rd District Court with one count of aggravated murder and two counts of attempted aggravated murder, all first-degree felonies. The charges are likely to be amended since Elaine Manning has died. Aggravated murder is punishable by prison time or the death penalty.
Elaine Manning’s obituary was combined with one for son Greg VanDeMerwe. The text follows:
