Michele Daughtery

Michele Daughtery

Noblesville Man Charged In Wife's, Cat's Death

Officers Find Lonnie Daughtery's Wife, Cat Dead In Ky. Hotel Room

June 26, 2011

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WRTV-6) -- An Noblesville man was charged with murder and animal cruelty after his wife and cat were found dead in a Kentucky hotel room, police said.

Kentucky police said Lonnie Daughtery, 37, of Noblesville, Ind., was arrested at around 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Holiday Inn Express in Elizabethtown, Ky., which is about an hour southwest of Louisville.

Officers said they found the body of Michele Daughtery, 45, and a dead cat when the entered the hotel room.

Police said Lonnie Daughtery told them he was helping his wife commit suicide.

Elizabethtown Police Sgt. Tim Cleary said Lonnie Daughtery didn’t say why his wife wanted to commit suicide, but added he strangled her to aid in the attempt.

Police said Lonnie Daughtery was taken to Hardin Memorial Hospital with “superficial injuries.”

UPDATE:

A Noblesville man is in jail accused of murdering his wife while the couple was in Kentucky.

Detectives charged Lonnie Daughtery with murder and cruelty to animals. Police said they found 47-year-old Michele Daughtery's body Saturday inside a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Elizabethtown, KY. Lonnie Daughtery was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Detectives claim that is when Lonnie Daughtery told them he strangled his wife, helping her commit suicide. Detectives accuse him of killing their cat, which was also in the hotel room.

"I know Lonnie well enough to know he would do anything that Michele would've asked him," Dorothy Castle said. Dorothy Castle lives near the Daughtery's Noblesville home. Castle said she met the couple four years ago when they moved into the Lions Creek, a Morse Lake community.

Castle described the couple as the nicest people, impossible not to like. She said the couple lost their apartment around the time they found out Michele had cancer. She said the Daughtery's wanted to travel before Michele became too ill.

"I understood I guess that he did what he thought he had to do, but I was really upset because I just….I don't know how to explain to people the way this man loved this woman. He did it out of love. There was no in any way shape or form this man had any malicious {intent}. He loved her with everything he had and he gave up his life for her," Castle said.

Castle said she spoke to the couple on Friday. "Something must have happened to make this decision. I always knew she would make some decision, but i never thought it would happen like that," she said.

Lonnie Daughtery is at the Hardin County Detention Center in Kentucky where he faces a murder charge and cruelty to animals, 1st degree.