Daughter of West County Murder Victim a Parkway West Grad

The Town and Country family whose husband has been charged in connection with the death of his wife may be a familiar name to some Chesterfield residents. 

An obituary at Legacy.com for Suzanne Gunter, who police said Wednesday was slain by her husband William Lynn Gunter, indicates she was an active volunteer in the Parkway School Distict. A district spokeswoman couldn't immediately identify where she volunteered, but said the couple's youngest daughter graduated from Parkway West High School in 2010.

According to the St. Louis County Police department, which is now handling the investigation, Town and Country Police responded to the scene at 1515 Mason Hill Court Monday to an "accidental injury" call and found Suzanne Gunter laying in the foyer of the home near the front door.

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Lt. Tom Larkin from the County Police said a neighbor called 911. Larkin said a forensic pathologist "almost immediately" determined that the cause of the injury was not how it had been presented to Town and Country Police, leading the case to be classified as a homicide.

Authorities allege Gunter struck his wife in the head with some sort of instrument available in the home. It is unclear if the authorities know what the instrument was or if it had been recovered.

Lt. Larkin said as they know it today, they are not able to find any history of violence in the family. He added that the couple's two daughter were not home at the time of the incident.

Suzanne Gunter was 55 years old. She served as a member of the city of Town and Country's Community Relations Commission. According to his LinkedIn profile, William Gunter is a Vice President of AHM Financial Group, which is located just outside Westport Plaza near Maryland Heights.

When approached by Patch Wednesday afternoon, a neighbor in the Mason Hill Court community where the Gunters lived said all the neighbors in the area had collectively decided not to discuss anything about the couple with the media.

Arrangements for Suzanne Gunter are being handled by Ortmann-Stipanovich Funeral Home in Creve Coeur, where visitation is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 7 p.m Thursday with a funeral mass scheduled for Friday at St. Anselm Parish, also in Creve Coeur on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Patch Editors Joe Scott and Frank Johnson contributed information for this report.