Husband admits to Warrensburg wife's death

Lourash, 57, who had been pleading not guilty to the November 23 killing, suddenly changed his mind and took a plea deal negotiated by defense attorney Susan Moorhead.

The defendant admitted a charge of first degree murder in Macon County Circuit Court, but prosecutors agreed to amend the charging language to remove an added prison penalty linked to the use of a gun as the murder weapon.

That means Lourash will now face a sentencing range of from 20 to 60 years when he returns to court May 31 to be sentenced by Presiding Judge Thomas Griffith. But any sentence Lourash receives must be served at 100%, with no day-for-day credit.

Harrowing details of the murder of 41-year-old Tabitha Lourash were revealed by detectives with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office. They described how Lourash had flown into a rage in a family argument in which he accused his wife of cheating on him.

Lourash had armed himself and Tabitha Lourash, who was also armed, had screamed for her 17-year-old son to flee to safety upstairs, where her other frightened kids aged 15, 13 and 11 were gathered, as she was confronted downstairs by her husband.

Detective Cody Woods, who had given evidence at Tabitha Lourash’s inquest, said the brave mom had bought time for her children to jump clear of the house through a second story window “as they heard the gunshots being fired.”

A 9mm handgun had been found near Tabitha Lourash's bullet-riddled body which showed she had managed to get off one shot before being killed. She suffered 11 gunshot wounds and eight bullets were later recovered from her body.

Police burst in to find her husband wounded and slumped by the front door next to his own handgun. Lourash had not been shot by his wife, Instead, Woods said he had shot himself in a botched suicide attempt, the bullet ripping up through the front of his face but missed inflicting a fatal wound to his brain.

Part of the damning evidence against Lourash that gave investigators a clear and unbiased view of the tragedy was that Tabitha Lourash had managed to activate her cell phone to record what happened. Woods said there was no video but the audio captured the whole confrontation leading up to her death.

“And in the audio, Mr. Lourash can be heard saying ‘Are they coming to get me?’ referring to the sheriff’s office coming,” Woods had said. “And Tabita says ‘Yes, they are.’ And Mr. Lourash says twice ‘It’s over, it’s over’ and Mrs. Lourash can be heard saying ‘Don't do this, Jeffrey, don’t do this Jeffrey,’ and then the shots ring out.”

Tabitha Lourash’s mother, Julie Weaver, had described her daughter as an innocent victim who always did her best for her children. “I think it’s just cruel,” she had said of her daughter’s violent death.

“She was a loving, caring mom and she didn’t do anything.”