Names, details given in case of murder-suicide

Further details, including the names of the couple involved, have been released regarding an apparent murder-suicide on Dec. 16 in a Costa Mesa condo. Costa Mesa police said David McClure Bennett, 58, committed suicide after shooting Malinda Jane Barton, 58, in the head at their condo in the 2300 block of Vanguard Way.

Police said a friend of Bennett called at about 6:51 p.m. to warn them of disturbing things Bennett had said.

“Bennett had confided in a friend that he’d recently been diagnosed with a serious medical condition,” Det. Lt. Robert Phillips said. “He’d started drinking again, had killed his girlfriend and was inside the apartment.”

The new information has corrected some early reports. Phillips said Barton was Bennett’s live-in girlfriend, not his wife, as many accounts have asserted. Also, although Bennett did fire a shot during his 3 1/2 -hour standoff with a SWAT team, it was not directed at police. Phillips said he fired through a curtained window upwards, and the ricocheting bullet ended up in the balcony.

Police said Bennett was holed up in his apartment for more than four hours after killing Barton, eventually talking to negotiators by phone. Phillips said that after they heard another gunshot and Bennett stopped talking, officers went in at about 11:30 p.m. and found both bodies on the floor, shot in the head.

Employees at the Plant Stand, the Costa Mesa nursery where Bennett used to work, said he quit abruptly two weeks before his death, telling them he had cancer.

Phillips said the couple’s three cats and a bird have been adopted. “Several concerned persons, possibly including co-workers of Bennett, have adopted the animals,” he said.

Plant Stand employees on duty Friday afternoon said they did not know anyone who had adopted a pet.