Detectives have determined that a Gilroy woman’s untimely death
was a suicide, based on lab tests and a long-awaited set of
fingerprints.
Gilroy – Detectives have determined that a Gilroy woman’s untimely death was a suicide, based on lab tests and a long-awaited set of fingerprints.
Kathryn Ryle, 48, died of a gunshot wound to the chest last September, and was found by her husband Lynn in their home on Festa Aglio Court, he told police.
Police were certain that the gunshot killed her, but were unsure who pulled the trigger, and called the case “a suspicious death.”
Ryle’s death remained a mystery for more than 10 months, as detectives waited for forensic evidence to return from the county crime lab.
Tuesday, Detective Frank Bozzo received one final clue: Fingerprints from items at the crime scene. The prints belonged to Kathryn Ryle.
“Considering the fingerprints and all the other evidence processed from the lab – all of it leads to her committing suicide,” Detective Bozzo explained.
The incident troubled friends and neighbors, especially after a second violent episode rocked Festa Aglio Court this spring.
Lynn Ryle and his girlfriend, Lynda Handley, were shot at by her former father-in-law, 78-year-old Charles Handley, outside Lynn Ryle’s garage April 26, police said.
The San Jose man has been charged with attempted murder.
But as Detective Bozzo closes the matter of Kathryn Ryle’s death, he hopes the Ryle family can find closure, on at least one unsettling case.
“We try not to have cases hang over that long,” Bozzo said, “but you always want to make sure that you’re thorough.”
