A Louisiana television host with a troubled past was shot to death last week in what authorities have called a murder-suicide attempt. Scott Rogers, 52, who moved to the U.S. from England in the mid-1990s and hosted the "Around Town" show on WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, was found dead in his St. Gabriel bed on Wednesday. His alleged killer, son-in-law Mathew Hodgkinson, was nearby, suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
Investigators believe Hodgkinson, 36, wrote a note left at the bedside table that seemed to allude to a motive: a recent move by federal agents to remove two boys, an adopted son and a boy Rogers planned to adopt, from Rogers' home. “They broke our happy, loving home," the note said. "They do not get to take Scott too.”
Iberville County Sheriff Brett Stassi has told reporters that the two men were in a relationship, and that Hodgkinson's marriage to Rogers' daughter appeared to be a cover and a way to keep Hodgkinson from being deported. While authorities try to sort out the tangled story, Hodgkinson was on life support from a brain injury, Stassi has said.
—Jon Schuppe