Murder-suicide in Whitefish

A West Glacier man killed a well-known Texas hunting expert Thursday night in Whitefish in an apparent crime of passion before assaulting his wife and later killing himself, according to the Whitefish Police Department.

Greg G. Rodriguez, 43, of Sugar Land, Texas, was visiting Lindsey Bengtson at her mother’s home on River Lakes Parkway in Whitefish when her husband, Wayne Bengtson, 41, showed up.

“Mr. Rodriguez was up here on business, apparently, from what we have found out, and had stopped to talk with [Bengtson’s wife] for the evening and have a glass of wine,” Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said during a press conference Friday.

Dial said Bengtson showed up while the pair were in the kitchen, cursed at them and immediately fired four shots from a .44-caliber revolver from three feet away.

The shots hit Rodriguez in the torso, arm, shoulder and right leg, killing him almost instantly. The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m.

Bengtson then assaulted his wife, hitting her with the pistol at least once, leaving her with a concussion, a black eye, swollen lips, and several contusions. She was treated at North Valley Hospital and released that night.

After the assault, Bengtson took their 2-year-old son, who had been asleep in a downstairs bedroom, and fled the home. He dropped the child off, unharmed, at a relative’s home in Columbia Heights before driving to his own home in West Glacier.

Flathead County deputies found Bengtson’s truck in the driveway of his West Glacier home off U.S. 2 behind Glacier Raft Co., and the SWAT team was deployed. The team was unable to contact Bengtson and eventually entered his home at about 4 a.m. They found him in his bedroom, dead of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

According to Dial, Bengtson’s wife said they had argued recently but not seriously, and there had been no indication that he would do anything like what he did Thursday.

Dial said it is also believed that the relationship between Bengtson’s wife and Rodriguez, who had met each other at a trade show, was purely professional, and the reason for the visit was to talk about a business-related project. Lindsey Bengtson works for a local firearms manufacturer.

“Perhaps the husband thought maybe it was more than that,” Dial said.

Dial said there was no indication Bengtson was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crime.

Law enforcement officers later located the child taken from the house.

“We called Child Protective Services and they have intervened to make sure that the mother and the child are adequately cared for and are reunited appropriately,” Dial said.

The woman’s mother was out of town at the time of the incident.

Rodriguez was known as an outfitter, hunting consultant, award-winning outdoor writer and marksmanship consultant.

He had connections with the Flathead Valley firearms industry and previously had worked with Proof Research.

Rodriguez was the founder and chief executive officer of Global Adventure Outfitters. According to the organization’s website, Rodriguez had hunted in 21 countries on six continents — including 55 African safaris — and taken 140 species of animals.

He hosted “A Rifleman’s Journal” on The Sportsman Channel, which premiered on June 30, 2012, and was the recipient of a 2012 Sportsman’s Choice Award for best educational/instructional show. The second season was scheduled to start in July of this year.

“A Rifleman’s Journal” tracks Rodriguez’s hunting travels to exotic locations, according to a Sportsman Channel description.

Rodriguez also was a shooting editor at Shooting Times Magazine and a contributing editor at Petersen’s Hunting, Guns & Ammo, and Dangerous Game.

His writing has been published internationally as well. Rodriguez had served as president of Safari Club International Houston and as vice president of the Houston Safari Club.

He lived in Texas with his wife, Lisa, and two children, Chloe, 14, and Cole, 12.

“I’ve been chief here for 11 years, and my first year there was a double-homicide-suicide,” Dial said, referring to the 2002 deaths of Dr. Chet Hope and his wife, Carol, who were killed by their son, Jared.

“We haven’t had any violent crimes to speak of in Whitefish [since then] until February.”

That Feb. 2 incident involved the shooting death of 42-year-old Ordean Engebretson, apparently by his girlfriend. Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan has not yet indicated whether charges will be filed against the woman.