Police determine railroad worker's death was suicide
EUGENE, Ore. -- Police now believe a railroad worker found dead Feb. 6 died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigated for more than two months as the city's first homicide of the year, police said Thursday that investigators have ruled the death of 44-year-old Ron Langlois of Springfield was a suicide.
A co-worker found Langlois dead from a gunshot wound at West 2nd Avenue and Cleveland Street just before 5 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6. His supervisor from the Portland & Western Railroad, a Salem-based train transport company, was at the crime scene while police investigated for more than 7 hours.
Langlois started working as a conductor for Portland & Western in August 2003, working his way up to locomotive engineer, his wife told KVAL News after his death. She said a conductor found her husband and started doing CPR - even though he didn't directly know him.
He was remembered by friends and family as a supportive father and community member.
KVAL News does not routinely report on suicides. However, given the homicide investigation and ensuing disruption to the neighborhood and railroad, KVAL News has elected to report the results of the police investigation.
