Crime & Safety

Glendale Mother Was a Nurse at Local Health Care Provider

Information from her LinkedIn page describes Cathy Murch of Glendale as an active community woman; she died with her children in what's been described as a murder-suicide.

The Glendale woman who died of gunshots with her 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son was a registered nurse in the communty who worked for a local health care provider as treatment educator.

Catherine Murch, 42, was found shot in her home in the 700 block of Hawbrook Ave. in Glendale Monday morning. Her husband had called 911 shortly before 11 a.m. When police arrived, they found Catherine Murch and her two children, Mitchell III and Mary Claire, also shot.

Media reports said the father, Mitchell II, was performing CPR on his son, while his wife was found dead in the kitchen, and his daughter was found dead upstairs. Earlier reports from Glendale police had the ages of the children wrong. The St. Louis Major Crimes Unit, which is investigating, said the daughter was 8 and the son was 10.

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Catherine Murch graduated in 1994 from Saint Louis University with a nursing degree and worked in a variety of health care capacities since, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Her most recent positions included health educator at Special Design Healthcare, a specialty pharmacy provider. She also had a stint as an HIV specialty sales representative for Abbott Laboratories and a clinical research nurse for Washington University's school of medicine.

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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Catherine Murch attended Visitation Academy. The Murch children attended  in Webster Groves, where the family was active.

Mitch Murch II, the father, was a graduate of De Smet Jesuit High School in 1987 and the University of Missouri in 1992, according to Facebook. The Post-Dispatch reported that he had been terminated from a position at Centaur Building Services July 1 after working for the company less than a year.

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