Fatal shooting shocks Delaware County town

Residents say they're shocked at the shooting death Sunday night of local businessman and firefighter Terry Sauser.

“The whole town is in shock,” said Pearl Kelchen, who lives across the alley from the Sauser home, where the owner of the town's only convenience store was shot to death around 8:30 p.m.

Revette A. Sauser, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 59-year-old husband, according to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office. Court documents filed Monday said she fired “one shot from a .380 handgun” into his chest.

While neighbors said they knew of no friction in the marriage, Revette Sauser's recent Facebook postings suggest otherwise.

In a posting following the recent death of her father, Revette Sauser alluded to “fighting” among family. In a March 9 post, she complained about a comment she said her husband made.

“Not Understanding Why A Husband Has The Right To, tell Her what she can and cant wear…Dress up to make myself feel good about myself, and My husband thinks i had a Hot Date…..Whats Up with this Im not understanding this….,” Sauser wrote.

Nine days earlier, she wrote: “well well well I guess you might want to say I'm home….But not for long. Im going back to Illions to Live…..It sucks here, Husband dont understand whats doing on, it takes two to tangle and two to break it……I.'m tired of fighting all th etime, im getting up there in age, I want to be happy, and right now I'm not…..”

Sheriff John LeClere said deputies found Terry Sauser unconscious but alive in the living room of the home at 420 South St. He died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.

Pearl Kelchen's husband, Harold Kelchen, who had known Terry Sauser for 20 years, said he was “a decent kind of guy.” Revette Sauser, he said, was “a hothead,” who had upbraided him with little provocation on several occasions.

Ryan Fire Chief Shawn Kehrli declined to comment on the shooting because both Terry and Revette Sauser had been members of the local fire department. “It affects us both ways,” he said.

Anne Kehrli, the Sausers' nextdoor neighbor to the east, described them as good neighbors, pleasant and polite, but not outgoing.

“I have never been inside their house,” she said.

Neither Kehrli nor the Kelchens heard or saw anything out of the ordinary until emergency vehicles arrived with flashing lights after 8:30 p.m.

Terry Sauser, the owner of the 5 Alarm Store, a convenience store on Highway 13, was well known in the community, Sheriff LeClere said.

LeClere said he was not aware of any calls to the Sauser residence related to domestic issues.

Revette Sauser's bond was set Monday at $1 million cash, and her next court appearance is set for April 11.

Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. Thursday, April 7, 2011, at Peace Lutheran Church in Ryan.

Ryan, population 362, is 36 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids.