Before 8:00 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 12, La Salle police responded to a call at the Flying J Travel Center, 343 Civic Road. Upon arrival, the police found a woman in the center’s fueling area, dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
Late Tuesday, Oct. 17, the La Salle County Coroner’s Offices identified the female shooting victim reported missing in Michigan as 25-year-old Gina Nicole Bryant of Macomb Township, Michigan. Results are pending a forensic autopsy.
Also late Tuesday, Oct. 17, La Salle police released the suspect’s name, Justin S. Wendling, 26, of Holly, Mich. Wendling was a gynecologist at Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Investigators say he shot himself at a rest stop along Interstate 80 in Bettendorf, Iowa, hours after killing Bryant. (Bettendorf is about 2-1/2 hours west of La Salle.) As Bettendorf officers approached the vehicle, they heard a gunshot and discovered Wendling had died from a self-inflicted wound.
The La Salle County State’s Attorney’s Office has labeled the night’s shooting as a domestic incident. The La Salle County Coroner’s Office, La Salle Police Department, and the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit continue the investigation.