BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREENDALE, Ind. -- Twice in the last two weeks, 16-year-old Michelle Gatto borrowed her grandfather's videotape of the tragic love story, Titanic. Philip Gatto recalled how she would often visit his Cleves home, bringing a video of her own and staying by his side to watch it.
But those days ended tragically early Wednesday, when Ms. Gatto and 19-year-old Adam L. Skirvin died in an apparent double suicide at the interchange of U.S. 50 and Interstate 275 in Greendale, Ind. Friends of the couple reportedly said they were running away to Florida.
"She always wants to know how I'm doing," said Mr. Gatto, who is disabled. "She was an awful beautiful and nice girl. . . . We're all sad. I don't know what else to say."
None of the couple's other relatives could be reached for comment. Authorities say they are baffled by the actions taken by Ms. Gatto and Mr. Skirvin, who are both from Cleves. Indiana State Police Sgt. Dennis LeBlanc gave this account:
Mr. Skirvin was driving Ms. Gatto westbound on I-275 and had just crossed over the state line from Ohio about 2:30 a.m., when a Greendale police officer parked on the median noticed their car had a burned-out headlight. When he pulled behind them, Mr. Skirvin's driving became erratic -- so the officer flipped on his siren and lights and tried to stop the car.
Mr. Skirvin turned onto the Greendale - Lawrenceburg exit ramp, drove over an island at the interchange and his car stopped in the westbound lanes of U.S. 50.
When the officer approached the 1989 Pontiac Firebird, owned by Ms. Gatto's mother, he found the couple slumped in the front seat, a handgun by their sides. Dearborn County Coronor George Ross said Ms. Gatto was shot once in the chest and Mr. Skirvin was shot twice in the chest. Both were dead.
Although authorities initially believed the case to be a murder-suicide, Mr. Ross said the angle of the bullet wounds indicated that all three shots were self-inflicted.
Less than seven hours after his death, Mr. Skirvin would have been due in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on a misdemeanor theft charge. He had been arrested in February and in March, and dropped out of senior-level auto technology classes at the Diamond Oaks campus of the Great Oaks vocational network.
Ms. Gatto, a junior at Taylor High School, was taking chef training classes at the same vocational campus.
As news of the deaths spread through the school, counselors were on hand to comfort their friends.
"There were some who were very close, and it was very traumatic for them to find out the circumstances," said Taylor Principal Marshall Brumback. About 20 of the school's 575 students sought assistance.
Mr. Gatto said he knew little of his granddaughter's personal affairs, and could offer no explanation for the shootings.
Her death brought back painful memories of a 1990 family tragedy, when Mr. Gatto's daughter and Ms. Gatto's aunt, Georgeanna, was kidnapped from a Westwood convenience store, raped and murdered. Northside resident Robert Minton, then 29, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 20-year-old Georgeanna Gatto and, in a separate incident, 17-year-old Sandy Barrett.
"It's hard, going through this again," Mr. Gatto said.
Mr. Ross said autopsy reports will not be finalized for at least a couple of weeks, after laboratory test results are returned. There was no apparent evidence that they were using alcohol or drugs. Police are continuing their investigation, talking to friends and relatives of Ms. Gatto and Mr. Skirvin and trying to figure out their motivation.
"We're just as puzzled as everyone else," said Greendale Assistant Police Chief Richard Midlan late Wednesday afternoon. "We're still at square one (in our investigation)."
Bernie Mixon contributed to this report.
