A rural Valparaiso man was being held on suspicion of shooting his estranged wife to death on Sunday, Portage Police said.

The names of both the suspect and the victim were not released this morning “because the investigation is ongoing,” police said.

According to police, at 10:22 p.m. officers were dispatched to the Mystic Moon at 5830 U.S. Highway 6, Suite B., in response to a 911 call in which “dispatchers could hear faint breathing on the telephone line.” On their arrival, police said, officers found signs of forced entry at the business and on checking upstairs found a 50-year-old woman on the floor “shot numerous times with a high-power rifle” and “with the business telephone close to her.”

Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris told the Chesterton Tribune today that the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

While conducting their investigation at the scene, police, said, officers were informed by dispatchers that a male subject had contacted the Porter County Sheriff’s Police to request a welfare check on his stepfather, after his stepfather had called him to say that he had just shot his estranged wife, the male subject’s mother.

PPD and PCSP officers obtained a search warrant to enter the suspect’s residence and—because investigators learned that he may be in possession of an AK-47 assault rifle—the PCSP SWAT Team was mustered. The SWAT Team made entry and took the suspect into custody without incident.

The suspect subsequently refused to answer investigators’ questions, police said. He was being held on suspicion of homicide pending the filing of formal charges.

An autopsy on the victim is scheduled for Tuesday in Indianapolis, Harris said.

Posted 4/25/2011