Rhode Island Ex-Cop Kills Himself After Chase, Wife’s Body Found in Trunk

A former Rhode Island police officer killed himself on Saturday evening after a high speed chase with law enforcement -- while his slain wife’s body was hidden in the trunk of his vehicle.

Franklin Osgood, 61, who retired from the Providence Police Department in 2007, had called his daughter and informed her that he had hurt her mother on Saturday. She promptly called the police and informed them that her father was missing and in a bad state.

The Providence police put out a nationwide alert for Osgood and his wife Mary Jo, 55,  and the department made contact with him on Saturday evening by phone. Osgood refused to reveal his location, however.

At around 9:00 PM local time, the department contacted New Jersey State Police saying that he was believed to be on the NJ Turnpike in his 2007 Dodge Charger, armed and dangerous. Osgood’s vehicle was located approximately 25 minutes later, a few miles from the George Washington Bridge, where he refused to pull over.

The chase ended when Osgood ran off the road, hit the guardrail, and was hit by a police vehicle. The trooper involved in the crash sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to a press release from the New Jersey State Police.

When officers approached the vehicle, Osgood was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he died in the hospital around 11:30 PM. Mary Jo was pronounced dead at the scene two hours later, when she was discovered in the trunk of Osgood’s vehicle. A semi-automatic handgun was also found inside the passenger compartment.

So far, no motive has been released for what appears to have been a murder/suicide. The death of Mary Jo is being investigated by the Providence Police.

The Osgoods leave behind four children.