Fort Worth police found two adult female relatives dead inside a North Fort Worth apartment Wednesday night after a worried family member asked officers to check on a resident who had gone silent since the night before. Officers arrived at the 2200 block of Whistler Creek Drive at 8:52 p.m. and, after spotting what looked like a body through a window, forced their way inside. Both women had died of gunshot wounds, and police found a gun near the younger of the two.
According to WFAA, the concerned relative had been unable to get in touch with the resident since the night before and got no answer at the door. FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth reported that the relative had last spoken with the resident Tuesday night and later went to the home in person, where no one answered. When officers arrived, an officer looking through an apartment window saw what appeared to be a deceased person inside, according to FOX 4. First responders then forced entry and discovered both women dead at the scene.
Forced Entry During Welfare Check
Police forced their way into the apartment during the welfare check.
Once inside, the Fort Worth Police Department's homicide unit took over the scene and will make the final determination in the case, the report notes. Police described the incident as believed to be isolated, with no ongoing threat to the public. The investigation remains open as detectives work to piece together what happened inside the apartment.
Identities and Cause of Death Await Medical Examiner
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office will release the identities of both victims along with the official causes and manners of death, though that release is pending notification of next of kin.
The exact familial relationship between the two women has not been disclosed. That question remains open as the investigation continues.
A Pattern of Welfare Checks Turning Fatal in North Texas
The Whistler Creek Drive case echoes a string of recent North Texas welfare checks that ended in tragedy. In July, a Fort Worth-area welfare check in nearby Azle led officers to find a mother and daughter shot to death inside a home, a case Hoodline covered at the time. Earlier this month, Hoodline also reported on a man and woman found dead inside a Colleyville home in an incident police likewise called isolated with no ongoing public threat.
Tarrant County has built institutional infrastructure around exactly this kind of case. The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office established a specialized Intimate Partner Fatality Review Team back in 2017, combining prosecutors, medical personnel, and law enforcement to study patterns in local family violence deaths, according to the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.
For now, Fort Worth police say the Whistler Creek Drive case remains under investigation, with final answers awaiting the medical examiner's report and notification of the victims' families.
