Killing Suspect Had Troubled Past

Long before authorities say Lionel Sands put on a disguise and killed the local sheriff's wife and a deputy, he was enmeshed in a battle over life insurance from his second wife's mysterious death _ a death in which he was the prime suspect.

A former U.S. Army Reserve officer, described as a loner by those who knew him, Sands had two master's degrees and a history of violence. His first wife, Susan Schenk, had taken out a restraining order against him more than two decades ago.

Florida State Attorney Steve Meadows has named Sands, 60, and Daniel Brown, 54, as the men

who fatally shot Mellie McDaniel and deputy Harold Michael Altman on Tuesday. Sands and Brown also died.

"She warned me that he was a very, very smooth manipulative character," Susan Schenk's current husband, anesthesiologist John Schenk, told The Associated Press from the couple's home in Portland, Ore. "He was very good at telling people what they wanted to hear."

Susan Schenk declined to comment on her relationship with Sands because of the ongoing investigation.

Sands' attorney, Sidney Matthew in Tallahassee, said he was stunned by the violence and that Tuesday's killings confirmed for him that his client had murdered his second wife, Gail Joanne Sands.

"You've got someone who is extremely diabolical and calculating and is able to camouflage reality and was able to get away with the murder of his wife for five years," he said.

Sands and Brown scoped out the home of Jackson County Sheriff John McDaniel and fatally shot his wife of five years as she arrived there, slaying Deputy Harold Michael Altman as he responded to her distress call, authorities said.

The two men were carrying plastic restraints, bleach, vinegar and latex gloves, authorities said. Both men were killed in a shootout with Sheriff McDaniel and other deputies minutes later, authorities said.

"Common sense would dictate those items could be used in a kidnapping situation," said Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Karen Mason. But Mason said authorities "don't dare speculate on what was their plan."

Life had begun to unravel for Sands years before the shootings.

His second wife's body was found at the bottom of the couple's swimming pool in 2001. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma _ not an accident.

But Sands maintained his innocence, offering to give the $200,000 insurance payout to a dog rescue charity, and he was never charged in the death in part because Brown, who did yard work for the couple, provided an alibi. Brown told authorities that he was working at the home that day and said Sands never left his sight.