The Michigan woman killed this month by her estranged husband after a judge denied her request for a protective order had called 911 dispatchers twice in the days after the request for the order, saying her husband was harassing her, authorities said.
Tirany Savage called dispatchers June 26 while she was out of the house and said her husband, Bo Eugene Savage, was verbally threatening her, according to Roscommon County Central Dispatch, which handles 911 calls and county police During the same call, he told a dispatcher that he had filed for a protective order just two days earlier.
She called 911 the next day claiming her husband was at home and “was doing things,” according to the county’s central dispatch.
About two weeks later, Tirany Savage, 35, his son and his mother were found dead along with Bo Savage, who authorities say died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Roscommon County Sheriff’s Office, the central office said, was notified of the two June calls.
Roscommon County Undersheriff Ben Lowe said Thursday that a deputy was unable to meet with Tirany Savage on June 26 because she was not at home, but spoke to her on the phone. A deputy went to the Houghton Lake home the next day and pulled the estranged couple apart, Lowe said. He noted that there were no allegations of physical assault in any of the calls Tirany Savage made to authorities in June.
Lowe said of the sheriff’s office response on June 27, “The deputy let him [Bo Savage] take some items out of the house and separate them during the day so there wouldn’t be any problems.” He said they are waiting to see if an order of protection would be issued “because there had been no assault.”
This was not the first time before his death that Tirany Savage reported her husband to the police.
The sheriff’s office told NBC News that on October 11, 2018, deputies responded to the couple’s home for an attempted suicide.
Once there, officers spoke with Tirany Savage, who said her husband had been very upset, yelling and breaking things before trying to kill himself, according to a sheriff’s office report on the incident.
Deputies found Bo Savage on the ground. When he awoke, the report said, he appeared intoxicated and told deputies he had “thoughts of hurting himself all the time.”
He told deputies he wanted to be treated at a hospital and was taken for evaluation, according to the report.
Judge denies protective order before murders
Tirany Savage filed for an order of protection June 24 in Michigan’s 34th Circuit Court, alleging her husband had bought a gun, repeatedly threatened to kill himself and refused to leave the family home in Houghton Lake.
In her application for the protective order, Tirany Savage wrote about her husband’s threats and recent behavior, stating, “He has mental health issues (he stopped taking his medication) and recently buy a firearm and that worries me. He keeps saying that he. will blow his brains out and I don’t want my safety or my children’s safety to be in jeopardy.”
His request was denied three days later, almost two weeks before the family was killed.
In his denial, Judge Troy Daniel wrote that Tirany Savage could seek a restraining order in divorce court, according to the document. She filed for divorce on July 7.
On July 10, deputies in Roscommon Township, approximately 115 miles north of Lansing, were dispatched to a home around 3:30 a.m. and found the bodies of Tyrany Savage; Bo Savage, 35; his son, Dayton Cowdrey, 13; and his mother, Kim Lynette Ebright, 58, the county sheriff’s office said in a news release.
The sheriff’s office announced Friday that Bo Savage had legally obtained a gun found at the scene. Autopsy reports indicate that Tirany Savage, her son and mother died of gunshot wounds in a homicide. Bo Savage shot himself in the head, the sheriff’s office said.
Daniel, the judge, and Nancy Gallagher, Tirany Savage’s divorce attorney, did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
“She had so much going for her”
Gallagher told NBC News last week that Bo Savage’s behavior seemed to become more and more dangerous during the time Tirany Savage was trying to leave him.
Bo Savage became “more manipulative, more controlling,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher said she was impressed with Tirany Savage because she was a survivor of domestic violence who had also previously been involved in an abusive relationship. Despite that, she had managed to “put herself through nursing school,” Gallagher said.
“She had a lot going for her and she was doing really well in a lot of ways,” he said. “I want it to be known: She was not someone who made terrible decisions.”
Tim Stelloh and Erik Ortiz contributed.
