Couple found dead in Kona apartment ruled murder-suicide, police confirm

Joy Mills-Ferren and Brad Wood-Ferren. (Courtesy Annie Ferren)
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KAILUA-KONA — Police have reclassified a coroner’s inquest investigation to a murder-suicide for a Kona couple found dead in their apartment last summer.

Joy K. Mills-Ferren, 48, and her husband Bradley A. Wood-Ferren, 56, were first found on Aug. 3, 2018, at the apartment complex at the 75-6000 block of Alii Drive. When officers arrived on scene they found the “lifeless bodies of a male and female within the second-floor unit,” Hawaii Police state. “A firearm was also located.”

After an autopsy was conducted on Aug. 10, 2018, police identified the couple. The investigation indicated that each died as a result of a single gunshot wound.

According to police, independent laboratory examinations along with forensic pathologist findings led police to determine the manner of death for Joy Mills-Ferren was a homicide while the manner of death for her husband Brad Wood-Ferren was a suicide.