Man arrested after his girlfriend’s body is found hanging from garage beam

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (TCD) -- A 48-year-old man is in custody after allegedly killing his 59-year-old domestic partner and staging it as a suicide.

According to a news release from the St. Petersburg Police Department, on Feb. 20 at approximately 11:27 p.m., Gregory Shinn called police and said his girlfriend, Katrin Simpson, had committed suicide. He reportedly told officers he found her body hanging in the garage of their home.

Paramedics located Simpson with a black wire around her neck connected to a beam, WFLA-TV reports. Shinn allegedly told officials his girlfriend had been suicidal days before he found her dead.

Further investigation revealed a history of domestic violence in the home, and police noticed "inconsistencies in Shinn’s statements." Additionally, Simpson’s injuries were "inconsistent with suicide by hanging."

According to WFLA, the medical examiner’s office determined Simpson died of strangulation but had also sustained blunt force trauma and had drugs in her system, which contributed to her death.

Police detectives arrested Shinn and booked him into the Pinellas County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder.

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