Murder suspect turns gun on self

What began Tuesday night as an arson case ended Friday with the suicide of a murder suspect on the run.\nPolice responded around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to a fire at 1600 N. Willis Drive, Lot 171, in the Arlington Valley Mobile Home Park. Dental records later identified the woman found dead inside as Linda Darlene Eshbach, 56, said Sgt. Rick Helms of the Bloomington Police Department.\nAn autopsy later revealed Eshbach had been shot twice in the head and once in the chest before the blaze began, said Monroe County Coroner David Toumey. Police began searching for Roderick S. Mathis, 34, who had a 10-year relationship with Eshbach and lived with her, Helms said.\nThe search came to an end Friday afternoon when Detective Rich Hunter discovered Mathis' body in the area of the cutout off Monroe Dam Road, an area reserved for overflow of Lake Monroe, Helms said. A citizen had alerted police that he or she had seen Mathis' 1991 gray Pontiac Grand Am in the parking lot about a quarter mile away from the body as early as 10:20 p.m. Tuesday night, Helms said.\n"We're pretty confident he went directly there," he said.\nDeputy Coroner Eric Schopmeyer said he pronounced Mathis dead at 1:30 p.m. Friday. It has been ruled a suicide, he said. He said Mathis had been dead since about 11:30 p.m Tuesday.\nEshbach was found sitting on a sofa in the living room of the the trailer, Toumey said. The fire had been set with an accelerant in two places, the living room and a bedroom, Helms said. He said it appears the suspect doused the sofa with an accelerant and set it on fire.\nMathis' car, which was recovered Thursday, was unlocked with the keys in the ignition and Mathis' driver's license and social security card laying loosely on the passenger seat, Hunter said. A .40 caliber and nine millimeter handguns were found in the vehicle, he said. A rifle was also recovered at the trailer, Helms said.\nHunter said Mathis' car was pointing toward the location where his body was found.\n"It just seemed to me a strange angle he had his car parked at," he said.\nHe said he searched for Mathis on foot in the direction of the car, eventually spotting something blue in the distance on a hillside, which turned out to be Mathis' blue jeans. Hunter ordered the suspect to put his hands in the air, he said.\n"I thought maybe he was possibly asleep," Hunter said.\nWhen he moved closer to the body, Hunter said he saw Mathis' feet were crossed and a .45 caliber handgun was situated under his left wrist. A bullet had entered the left side of his head, he said. \nThe gun was of the same caliber that killed Eshbach Tuesday, Helms said.\nNeighbor Amy Kurdziolek said she had heard through family and friends that Eshbach had ended the relationship with Mathis shortly before Tuesday. \n"She finally got fed up and told him to get out, and in a rage, he just went off," she said.\nHer mother and another neighbor saw Mathis sitting in his car, watching the trailer, Kurdziolek said. Mathis drove off and about five minutes later, her dog, Tipper, alerted Kurdziolek and her mother of the fire next door. When she let the dog out, she noticed flames coming from Eshbach's trailer. \n"I knew she was in there because they never left together," she said.\nKurdziolek and her mother banged on the sides of the trailer until the heat pushed them back, she said. \nShe said there was typically loud music coming from the home every night from about 9 p.m. to midnight. \n"On Tuesday it was really strange, but we didn't think much of it," she said. "He played it for only an hour and that was between six and seven -- a half hour before the fire started."\nShe said she didn't want to cause controversy by reporting the music to the police.\n"If I would have called the cops between six and seven, maybe we would have stopped it," she said. "It's just real sad because she didn't deserve this. Nobody deserves this."\nFrom 1995-2000, there have been seven homicides in Bloomington. Most years from 1995-2000 have had no hoicides, with one in 1995 and 6 in 2000.