Just days before her husband committed a horrific murder-suicide, Andrea Nicole Yarbrough, a senior fire department lieutenant in Florida, posted a disturbing Facebook message.
Andrea’s mother had requested a welfare check after she was unable to reach her, and the police responded by visiting the family. The couple’s bodies were discovered in their St. Augustine, Florida, home.
While Shawn’s death seemed to be a suicide, Andrea’s appeared to be a homicide, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
Just days before, the couple celebrated their first anniversary. They have three sons from Shawn’s first marriage and one daughter from Andrea’s second.
Shawn Yarbrough was employed by the fire department, and 34-year-old Andrea Nicole Yarbrough made available a statistical table detailing the department’s workload.
As the chart shows, St. Johns County Fire Rescue recorded more than 3,200 emergency callouts in April.
In the caption, she may have hinted at the strain her husband’s demanding work schedule was putting on their marriage, which had been going on for little over a year.
“All of our significant others are exhausted and never function 100% at home,” Andrea wrote.
One neighbor described the pair as a “typical nice family,” and the news of their deaths stunned the neighborhood. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office when they verified the crime as a murder-suicide.
Andrea Yarbrough was determined to have died from a gunshot wound; the manner of her death was determined to be a homicide, according to Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Wendolyn Sneed.
Many of Shawn Yarbrough’s Facebook posts featured him with his wife and children, giving the impression that he was a devoted family guy. Shawn took pride in his children’s academic achievements, which he said were due to his wife’s hard work, in a post from earlier this year.
Andrea’s 11-year-old daughter, Lily, is uncertain about her life without her mother’s stability. To help Lily through this challenging time, family members have set up a GoFundMe page. For the time being, Lily and her dog, Marsh, will be staying with her grandparents.
Statistically, first responders die more by their own hands rather than in the line of duty due to their constant exposure to trauma.
