Erie County Sheriff Terry Lyons said it appears that 56-year-old David Kromer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had rented a motel cottage in Vermilion Township. The manager called the sheriff's office Wednesday to report a smell of gas coming from the cottage. The gunshot was fired before police arrived.

Kromer was charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of his ex-girlfriend, 58-year-old Carla Westhofen, of Sandusky, Ohio.

Her body was found Saturday in Fairview Township in Pennsylvania's Erie County. That's about 10 miles southwest of the city of Erie, along the Lake Erie shoreline.

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