Cause of three deaths inside Lincoln home still unclear
Posted by: Laura Wilson
lwilson@klkntv.com
LINCOLN–There’s a lot of questions that have yet to be answered in deaths of Ronald Blake Heritage, 53-year-old Tina Jensen, and 55-year-old Norma Voges—whose bodies were discovered inside a Lincoln home on Sunday.
The moments leading up to their deaths still remain a mystery to family and friends.
"That’s the hard part is waiting. Please tell me what really happened here. What I know so far and who I know these people to be–aren’t gelling,” said USPS worker James Szakonyi, in a phone interview Monday night.
Szakonyi says he had worked with all three of them at the postal service plant in Lincoln.
“Tina was a free spirit and just a friendly person to be around. Same with Norma,” Szakonyi explained.
“Blake and I shared a common interest of playing billiards. He was just this wonderful guy with this wicked sense of humor and huge amount of compassion for the world,” he added.
Which is why news of their deaths came as such a shock to him Monday morning.
“I’ve asked about five or six ‘why’ questions. So yeah, it’s hard,” said Szakonyi.
Police responded to the home, near 67th and Bethany Park Drive, on Sunday, after family members—who were checking in on the house—discovered two of three bodies and called 911.
Police discovered the third body after searching the home.
According to LPD, Heritage and Jensen were living together at the time of their deaths, and Voges was a longtime friend of theirs.
Online records indicate police are treating this as a possible murder suicide case.
“A firearm has been recovered and evidence collected suggests the gun was discharged inside the home,” said Lincoln Police Department Jeff Bliemeister, during a press conference Monday morning.
Szakonyi admits Heritage had had a rough few year—after losing his wife to cancer, being transferred to the Omaha plant for work, and getting in a car wreck.
“On one hand, one might have been able to see this coming,” Szakonyi reflected.
“On the other hand, Blake didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would just ‘cash out,’” he added.
But he’s still questioning LPD’S suspicions about the nature of the deaths.
“As far as the ‘murder suicide,’ I’m not buying it. None of them were the cold, calculated kind. This is more of I’m thinking depression,” he said.
Police are still waiting on autopsy results.
