Longview man allegedly kills wife, attempts suicide

LONGVIEW, Wash. (KOIN 6) – A 73-year-old man — who shot himself in the head in 2014 — is now under medical observation after deputies said he tried to kill himself again, after he murdered his estranged wife on Sunday.

Cleon Orville Moen, Jr. is being treated at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center for carbon monoxide and dog bites, according to Cowlitz County Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig.

The investigation started around 4 p.m. on Sunday when deputies said emergency dispatchers received a call from one of Moen’s friends who had gone over to Moen’s house. There, the man told deputies, Moen confessed to killing his wife. The friend left the scene in the 200 block of Robertson Road and called 911.

Deputies and the SWAT team responded to take Moen into custody, but he initially refused and was found in a pump house where he was attempting to take his own life. He was eventually taken into custody.

In a prepared statement, Rosenzweig said “while there have been reports that Mr. Moen Shot his wife, our investigation is not able to confirm or deny that as a complete examination at the scene has not been conducted.”

When Moen is released from the hospital he will be booked into the Cowlitz County Jail and charged with first-degree murder, Rosenzweig said.

Deputies on Monday confirmed that in 2014, Moen shot himself in the head using a rifle after he had been a defendant in a domestic violence trial that concluded with a hung jury. Details of the original arrest were not immediately available, but deputies confirmed they involved Moen’s wife.