When deputies arrived they heard a gunshot and went inside to find two dead bodies. Helen Meeks took her own life, according to deputies.
“It was a surprise to us. Woodstock is one of your quieter towns,” neighbor Paul Zizzo said.
Zizzo lives two houses down from the Meeks’ home.
Zizzo, a resident for 23 years, said the Meeks were relatively new to the neighborhood and had been renting the house for two or three years.
Zizzo said he did not know the couple well, but they would wave to each other when driving down the street.
“They pretty much kept to the themselves, but their dogs were a pain. Those little yelping things,” Zizzo said.
“I don’t know what prompted them, because last time I saw them they were sitting out on their back porch having a couple drinks and having a good time,” Zizzo said.
A local business owner of the Woodstock Bar and Grill Anthony Groves was shocked by the deaths.
“They seemed to be homebodies unless she’d come out to listen to music,” Groves said. “She (Helen) enjoyed music. She would come out and listen to music and have a good time.”
The Woodstock Bar and Grill is right down the street from the Meeks’ home.
“Nobody ever heard much from them,” Groves said.
Groves was especially sadened by the story because sucide is a very personal topic for him.
He said his brother-in-law committed sucide a few years ago and it is something he and his wife continue to struggle with.
He said sucide is something the Woodstock community has struggled with over the last few years. He could recall three in the surrounding areas in the last three years.
He urges anyone struggling with this accident or sucide in general to contact the sucide prevention coalition of Champaign and Logan counties at 1-800-224-0422.
The county coroner and sherrif’s office are continuing to investigate the shooting.
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