Nemacolin couple dies in apparent murder-suicide
A Nemacolin couple was found dead in their home, at 420 March St., Thursday morning by Cumberland Township Police.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
Larry Plavi looks across the street to the house of his Nemacolin neighbors, Lou and Sue Drotos, a married couple who was found dead Thursday morning by Cumberland Township police.
A Nemacolin couple was found dead in their home at 420 March St. early morning on Thursday, Feb. 11 by Cumberland Township Police. (Photo by Roberto M. Esquive, Herald-Standard)
Larry Plavi looks across the street to the house of his Nemacolin neighbors, Lou and Sue Drotos, a married couple who was found dead Thursday morning by Cumberland Township police. (Photo by Robert Esquivel, Herald-Standard)
A couple found in their Nemacolin house Thursday morning died in an apparent murder-suicide, according to the Greene County coroner.
Louis and Mary “Sue” Drotos, both 67, were found dead in their house at 420 March St. shortly after a 911 call came from the husband, police said.
Greene County 911 Supervisor Jeff Rhodes said he cannot release the nature of the call at this time.
Police forced their way inside the duplex, responding to the 911 call, to find the couple recently deceased, according to Cumberland Township Police Chief Craig T. Miller.
The two lived alone on their side of the duplex. Autopsies for the couple are scheduled for Friday, Miller said.
Longtime friend and neighbor Larry Plavi said he was shocked to learn how the couple died. He looked doggedly at the house which had just gone silent after police left.
“They loved each other,” he said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Plavi said he knew the couple his whole life. He said they lived across the street from him for more than 30 years.
Sue, a retired nurse, and Lou, a retired coal miner, had two children and several grandchildren, according to the neighbor. Plavi said he talked to them almost every day, whether it was when Sue walked by his house with their dogs or to help Lou work on his car.
He said he talked with Lou at length when he was working on his car last week.
On the outside, everything appeared to be normal.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary with those two,” he said. “It blows my mind. I never would have thought this would happen to them.”
He said the two seemed deeply in love and rarely argued. Living close to the house, he said he had never heard raised voices. In spending time with Lou, he heard about some of their minor disagreements, which he described as arguments typical of a couple married for decades.
Plavi said they sometimes struggled with money, which fueled occasional tension in the relationship. Lou recently made additions to the home, which was a source of contention because he wanted high-end materials and she wanted to save money, he said.
He remembers the couple as happy, in love and always ready to help a neighbor.
“It’s still sinking in,” he said.
He recounted his memories on his porch, sniffling either from repressed tears or the bitter cold.
“They were a very good, loving couple,” he said. “Anybody needed help, they’d lend a hand, lend a tool. If you needed someone to talk to, they’d listen.”
Plavi said they were always keeping an eye out for their neighbors.
Lou worked odd jobs since his retirement, according to Plavi, including driving for a limo service. He said he was frequently outside working on something.
“(He) would always call us, make us laugh,” he said. “He was a really good guy.”
Sue loved dogs, and the two had five or six at one time, Plavi said. He said he would see her walking the dogs in the morning and at night and stop to chat.
He shook his head.
“This is all just starting to hit me,” he said.