The medical examiner's finding came after an investigation that began in an unusual way.
The medical examiner's finding closed out an investigation that began in an unusual way. According to WAKG, the case had drawn attention since June, when a single-vehicle crash in the 12,000 block of East Gretna Road brought deputies to the property in the first place.
That crash was initially reported to the Pittsylvania County 911 Center at 12:50 p.m. on June 27 as a vehicle that swerved and struck the residence, as reported by WBTM Danville. Responders who entered the home to check for anyone injured in the crash instead found Unterman and Saltsman dead of apparent gunshot wounds, a discovery that immediately shifted the response from a traffic call to a death investigation, per the same account.
From Crash Call to Death Investigation
The report on the medical examiner's ruling noted that the Pittsylvania County 911 Center received the crash notification on June 27, 2026, before deputies found the two dead inside the residence with apparent gunshot wounds. Following the initial investigation, Unterman and Saltsman's bodies were taken to the Western District of Virginia Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke, where autopsies were planned under the authority granted by Code of Virginia § 32.1-283, which mandates investigation of sudden, violent, or suspicious deaths in the region.
The Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office, based in Chatham and typically coordinating tips through Pittsylvania County Crime Stoppers, said it would not release further information at this time beyond confirming the medical examiner's determination.
A Teacher and Equestrian Remembered
Unterman was well known well beyond Gretna. She was voted Lynchburg Living's Top Teacher in 2016 while teaching 8th grade science at Forest Middle School, according to Randolph College, where she developed a space exploration course that connected her students with NASA scientists. She held a Master of Arts in Teaching from the college.
Outside the classroom, Unterman built a second career as a competitive equestrian and hunter jumper champion, founding CULU Equestrian Training in Virginia, a facility specializing in hunter jumper disciplines and horse project training.
Domestic Violence Patterns in Virginia
The ruling places the Gretna case within a broader pattern documented by state and federal agencies. Family and intimate partner violence accounts for roughly one-third of all homicides in Virginia annually, and more than 20 percent of intimate partner homicides involve a murder-suicide, according to Virginia Department of Health surveillance data.
Nationally, an FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program report released in February found that nearly 75 percent of the more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims recorded from 2020 through 2024 were female. In Virginia specifically, sources discuss domestic-violence services and funding and reference victim-service providers and emergency shelters.
The Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office has not released additional details about what led to the shooting, and officials indicated no further information would be shared at this time.
