A bitter dispute over custody of a 17-month-old daughter may have factored into a late-night murder-suicide in a dark cemetery.
Tulare police investigators believe Vernon Rowe, 30, of Tulare shot his estranged girlfriend, Bridgette Kile, 24, with a revolver late Sunday night at the Tulare Public Cemetery before turning the gun on himself as police officers arrived.

Investigators were awaiting the results of autopsies conducted Tuesday, but Tulare police Capt. Jerry Breckinridge said both Kile and Rowe appeared to have died from single gunshot wounds.

Kile's body was found in a van parked on a driveway in the southwest part of the cemetery grounds, while Rowe's body was found about 20 feet away.

The shooting was reported about 9:40 p.m. Sunday. Police don't yet know what triggered the tragedy.

"There's nothing obvious coming out yet, but we're still looking into it," Breckinridge said Tuesday.

Kile and Rowe broke up earlier this year, with Kile moving out of Rowe's north Tulare apartment into one of her own in central Visalia.

Court records indicate the couple feuded over who could best take care of Camille Rowe, the daughter the pair had together. Kile was also the mother of a 5-year-old son, Cody Cook, from a previous relationship.

In August, both Kile and Rowe filed papers in Tulare County Superior Court, each asking for a temporary restraining order against the other, accusing each other of some form of abuse and seeking custody of Camille.

Kile's request, filed Aug. 6, claimed Rowe one day was "chasing me in the parking lot where I work, calling me at work, yelling and screaming threatening to take my kids away."

Kile claimed Rowe inflicted mental abuse and alleged Rowe had three guns at his home, including one in Kile's name.

In his Aug. 7 request for a restraining order, Rowe accused Kile of abusing Camille by leaving the baby unattended in a car while she went into a store. Rowe claimed in another document that Kile, after moving out of his apartment in July, took Camille during a visitation and went into hiding in Dinuba.

Neither request was approved, and a Sept. 12 hearing on the protective orders and child custody apparently fell by the wayside as the couple reportedly reunited.

Efforts Tuesday to contact relatives of Kile and Rowe were unsuccessful.

Marlene Lawrence, a next-door neighbor to Rowe at his north Tulare apartment for more than two years until moving just last week, described a couple who enjoyed having friends or relatives over for backyard get-togethers.

"This is very, very shocking," she said of the deaths.

Lawrence said Kile had worked at the local Lowe's home-improvement store, and Rowe was a truck driver who was on the road for days at a time.

Kile was a quiet woman who enjoyed playing with her little girl, Lawrence recalled: "I remember seeing her right before Halloween, carving a pumpkin with her daughter."

Rowe, in the meantime, "was always very nice, always said hello," Lawrence said. "The last time I remember seeing Vern was right before Thanksgiving; he was putting a baby crib and other items into his van."

"The house had been quiet for a while, but then last week he was playing music pretty loud late at night," she said. "We were thinking, 'It's going to be nice to move and get away from the loud music.' "