A 60-year-old Dyer County woman fatally shot her husband and critically wounded their adult son Thursday morning at a home near the Lenox community, then died after driving the wrong way on Interstate 155 and colliding head-on with a tractor-trailer, authorities said. Sheriff Jeff Box identified the woman as Sherry Lydon and the man killed as her husband, William John Lydon Jr.
The back-to-back scenes — a homicide at a rural residence on Tar Hill Road and a fatal interstate crash more than 10 miles away — prompted an hourslong response by deputies, troopers and medics on Dec. 18. Investigators said early findings indicate an apparent murder-suicide that began inside the family’s home and ended minutes later on the highway. The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office is assembling a full timeline while the medical examiner completes autopsies. Officials said the 24-year-old son remains hospitalized in critical condition. No additional suspects are being sought.
Deputies were dispatched in the morning to the Tar Hill Road address, a two-lane route bordered by fields east of Dyersburg. Inside the house, they found William Lydon Jr. dead from gunshot wounds and the couple’s son gravely injured, according to a preliminary account. Sherry Lydon was not at the residence. As additional units and medics converged on the scene, a separate alert reported a head-on collision in the eastbound lanes of I-155 near Highway 181 by the Mid-South Dragway. Responders arrived to find a tractor-trailer with front-end damage and a second vehicle with catastrophic impact. Lydon, identified as the wrong-way driver, was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. The truck driver was not injured, authorities said.
In a brief statement, Box said evidence at the home suggested William Lydon Jr. was likely shot while asleep and that the couple’s son was shot soon afterward. He said items recovered at both scenes supported a single sequence of events that began at the house and ended on the interstate. Friends and relatives told investigators the violence was out of character. Officials said Lydon had recently undergone surgery and was reportedly struggling with mental health problems afterward, a factor deputies are documenting as they finalize reports. The sheriff described the case as “an incredibly tragic situation” and asked for patience as formal findings are prepared.
The Tar Hill Road property sits among widely spaced homes set back from the pavement, where morning traffic is mostly farm and delivery trucks. Tire marks traced patrol cars pulling in and out of the gravel drive as investigators photographed rooms and collected shell casings. Deputies canvassed nearby houses for exterior cameras that might show when vehicles left the area. At the interstate scene, troopers marked the lanes with orange paint, documented debris fields and measured impact angles while a heavy wrecker prepared to remove the car. Eastbound traffic slowed in alternating queues as crews cleared the roadway and reopened all lanes by afternoon.
Authorities released the husband’s and wife’s names and ages Thursday night and confirmed the son’s age while withholding his name due to medical status. Officials did not say how many rounds were fired inside the home, the caliber of the weapon involved or whether deputies had responded to prior calls at the address this year. No other injuries were reported in either incident. Investigators also did not immediately disclose where inside the residence William Lydon Jr. was found, whether any interior doors were forced, or how long elapsed between the shooting and the crash.
Interstate 155 is a short spur linking Dyersburg to the Mississippi River bridge and Caruthersville, Mo., with access to Highway 181 near the dragway. Wrong-way collisions on the stretch are rare but often severe because approaching drivers have little time to react. Troopers described Thursday’s wreck as a direct head-on impact with extensive damage to the passenger vehicle. Photos taken during the response showed the semi’s cab largely intact and the car’s front end crumpled along the centerline, debris scattered across both lanes and skid marks ending at the point of contact.
Detectives said standard next steps include interviews with relatives and neighbors, a complete evidence inventory from the residence and a room-by-room examination to confirm the order of shots and shell-casing locations. The medical examiner will provide cause-and-manner rulings for William and Sherry Lydon after autopsies; routine toxicology can take weeks. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is handling the primary crash report from I-155, including speed estimates, lane positions and whether onboard data can be retrieved from either vehicle. Once complete, reports from both scenes will be compiled into a case file maintained by the sheriff’s office.
By late afternoon Thursday, yellow tape cordoned off the Tar Hill Road home while detectives took final measurements and processed remaining rooms. On I-155, faint lane markings from the crash were still visible as traffic returned to normal. Neighbors in the Lenox area said the Lydons kept to themselves, waving from the mailbox or chatting briefly at a nearby farm supply store. A man who declined to be named said he first noticed blue lights through the trees, then watched investigators move in and out of the house. “We’re praying for the son and for everyone who loved this family,” Box said in a statement.
As of Saturday, officials had not announced further public briefings. The sheriff’s office said the case is being treated as a murder-suicide pending final autopsy results and a hospital update on the son’s condition. The next milestones are the medical examiner’s findings and the completion of the Highway Patrol’s crash report, which will be added to the investigative file when finished.
Author note: Last updated December 20, 2025.