The Sunday shooting deaths of a Price city councilwoman and her prominent business-owner husband have plunged their rural hometown into mourning.
Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide Sunday that left three dead, including Councilwoman Jan Oliveto, who was also a former Utah Girl Scout Council publicist.Oliveto, 64, and her 71-year-old husband, Dominic, were found shot to death at a Price office building Sunday morning.
Hours later, Carbon County deputy sheriffs discovered the body of the couple's estranged son-in-law, 45-year-old Charles Westbrook, lying next to his car on a hill overlooking town. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Price Police Chief Aleck Shilaos said.
"A town of 10,000; she's a city councilwoman - the town is absolute in shock," Shilaos said.
"It's a terrible thing, I should say," agreed Theressa Frandsen, who has served on the Price City Council for 141/2 years.
"I haven't been out and around yet this morning, but everybody is just upset about it," she said. "It just came as a shock. You just don't think something like that could happen."
The couple's daughter, Joni Westbrook, discovered her parents dead at 11:25 a.m. at the downtown building they were remodeling for a new tenant, Shilaos said. She provided police with information that led them to broadcast a bulletin for Charles Westbrook's whereabouts.
The Westbrook couple were inthe process of getting a divorce, Shilaos said. Although the man had no recent criminal history locally, the information provided by family members prompted police to want to question him.
"The divorce was not a pleasant one," Shilaos said. "There was some turmoil."
Autopsies are pending, and police expect to have the case wrapped up within the week, he said. The Olivetos were the parents of four children.
A six-year councilwoman, Jan Oliveto was remembered Monday by friends as an enthusiastic woman with a penchant for public service.
"She was involved in everything," Price Mayor Lou Colosimo said. "She was such a bubbly little gal. She'd come in the meetings always smiling.
"You work with somebody for six years, you know them," he said. "No matter what you asked her to do, she was enthusiastic and just going wild all the time."
As an elected official, Oliveto helped develop the Price Peace Garden and improvements to many city buildings. She was chairwoman of the Price City Cultural Program Commission and, for 14 years ending in 1986, was a part-time public relations director for the Utah Girl Scout Council.
Oliveto also served as a past president of the Utah Press Women organization and held several positions with the Notre Dame Catholic Church in Price.
Dominic Oliveto was equally well-known locally for his work with Oliveto Furniture Store, a longtime family business he shared with his sisters.
"He was a hard, hard worker," Shilaos said. "He just worked hard and everybody knew him. He helped people . . . You didn't see him sitting around having a cup of coffee."
Deseret News correspondent Arva Smith contributed to this report.