Police charge husband in murder after finding note

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) - A former school board president who told authorities that his wife shot herself has been charged with first-degree murder in her death.

An autopsy determined that Sandra Anne Duyst had been shot two times in the head just above the right ear when she was found in the bedroom of her home last spring.

Her husband, David Duyst Sr. was arraigned in Kent County District Court in Rockford on Monday and was being held without bond in the county jail. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

His lawyer, David Dodge of Grand Rapids, said yesterday that Duyst has denied any wrongdoing.

Duyst called 911 and later told investigators that he was in another room when his wife shot herself, officials said. He also told them that he removed the gun from her hand; deputies found it lying on the bed.

But detectives told The Grand Rapids Press for a story yesterday that evidence they collected after the March 29 shooting doesn't support his story. They said results of DNA and blood-spatter tests corroborate the autopsy finding that the death was a homicide.

"I had a lot of problems with someone shooting themselves in the head twice," said Detective Sgt. Chet Bush of the Kent County Sheriff's Department. "We were suspicious at that point. We wanted more evidence, and it takes time to do that."

A mother of three children, Sandra Duyst was an award-winning equestrian. She raised and trained quarter horses at the family's Alpine Township ranch, where she also gave riding lessons.

More than a year before her death, the victim had hidden a prophetic note inside her china cabinet, detectives said.

"If anything has happened to me look first to David Duyst Sr.," Sandra Duyst wrote in the letter intended for her sister. "He could be my killer. I would never commit suicide. He may have killed me."

David Duyst told police that his wife had been depressed and suicidal since being kicked in the head by one of her horses on Nov. 19, 1998. The note found in the china cabinet alleged that his wife had not been injured by a horse but instead had been beaten by Duyst.

"I'm not going to comment at this point on any specific piece of evidence," Dodge said when asked about the note.

Duyst's father, Peter Duyst, said he stands behind his son.

"There is another side to this, and we believe that," he said.

Investigators declined to elaborate on a possible motive, but in court records they alleged that David Duyst had taken out a $500,000 life insurance policy on his wife and was having an affair with a co-worker.

Duyst was arrested Friday at his workplace, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. in downtown Grand Rapids. He is an insurance and investment agent and a former board president of West Side Christian School.

A preliminary hearing for Duyst will take place at the Rockford court on Sept. 28.