Deborah Diane Gordon's Murdered Body, Was Kept In Her Home For A Month By Husband, John Nordstrom III UPDATE: Nordstrom Sentenced To 50 Years After Pleading Guilty To Wife's Murder

by JIM BERGAMO / KVUE NEWS
kvue.com

Posted on September 10, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Updated today at 10:10 PM

Family and friends of John Nordstrom III told police he was under a great deal of financial stress lately. Whether that was his motivation for murdering his wife remains unclear because police say he's not talking to them about what happened at their home on Rogge Lane back on August 5th.

Neighbors who live near this house on Rogge Lane react to the news that 58-year-old Deborah Diane Gordon had been murdered here back on August 5th and her decomposing body remained inside until investigators were called to the home 25 days later.

"I walk down this sidewalk almost everyday, I walk back and forth to work, so I've been walking by here several times just totally unaware," said Rene Carden, who lives nearby.

Police say Gordon's husband, 63-year-old John Nordstrom III is the one who killed her.

"There was a rational thought process that took place after she was killed that leads us to believe that his intent was to make it look like she had committed suicide," said Julie O'Brien, Violent Crimes Commander for the Austin Police Department

Police say Nordstrom went so far as to return some e-mails from his wife's friends who attended her fitness classes so her absence wouldn't seem suspicious. Investigators say that's not all he did.

"A neighbor that came up and talked to him as he was standing in front of the house, and basically he said, 'No, don't come any closer. I've got the flu,' and the intent there was to keep her from getting too close because of the odor coming from the house," said O'Brien.

It wasn't until Nordstrom's son, who lives nearby, visited the home on August 30th and grew suspicious that police were called.

"The cause of death for Ms. Gordon was not readily apparent due to the state of her body," said O'Brien. "But during autopsy, the medical examiner determined she did die of a gunshot wound."

"I used to play on these streets and ride my bike down these streets and there's a murderer living five houses down," said Katherine Voegele, one of Nordstrom's neighbors.

"I'm glad they figured it out to what really happened and hopefully they keep him incarcerated, or under observation, and something like this will never happen again," said Gregg Maston, who lives just two doors down from Nordstrom.

Police say Nordstrom's son told them when he went to the house on August 30th, he found his father in his car with the windows rolled up and the garage door down.

Nordstrom faces first degree murder charges and is currently in the Travis County Jail.

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It wasn't until Nordstrom's son, who lives nearby, visited the home on August 30th and grew suspicious that police were called.

[quote]Police say Nordstrom's son told them when he went to the house on August 30th, he found his father in his car with the windows rolled up and the garage door down.

Nordstrom faces first degree murder charges and is currently in the Travis County Jail. End of quotes from wraps article. Makes me wonder if the son called Nordstom early Aug 30th, that Nordstrom knew the gig was up, so the coward was in the garage taking the easy way out. IMO.

Don't ya think the son would have looked in the house before looking in the closed up garage?
If his dad was hiding from the smell inside his car, wouldn't the son have smelled it ?

December 9, 2011

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A jury has sentenced a Central Texas man to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing his wife and leaving her body in their house for nearly a month.

The Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/v90HGj) reports a Travis County jury deliberated about five hours before sentencing 65-year-old John Nordstrom III of Austin on Thursday. He could have received a life sentence.

Nordstrom pleaded guilty Monday to murder in the fatal shooting of 58-year-old Deborah Diane Gordon.

Austin police went to her home Aug. 30, 2010, after one of Nordstrom's sons stopped at the house and noticed a suspicious odor. He found her body on a couch, covered by a sheet. Investigators believe she died Aug. 5.

Police say Nordstrom tried to make it look like his wife committed suicide.

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