A young Wisconsin couple who had been looking forward to celebrating their first wedding anniversary never got the chance. Police say 29-year-old Rachel Dumovich and 30-year-old Brandon Dumovich were found dead inside a car late Monday night, leaving family and friends devastated.
Just before midnight on October 6, an officer with the Harvard Police Department in Illinois noticed a car stopped on Route 14 northbound near Burbank Street with its hazard lights flashing. At first, it looked like a possible motorist assist. But when the officer approached, he discovered something much darker. Inside the car, a woman was in the driver’s seat and a man was in the passenger’s seat. Both were dead.
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Authorities later confirmed the victims were Rachel and Brandon of Sharon, Wisconsin, according to the Kansas City Star.
The discovery was especially heartbreaking considering the couple’s love story. On their wedding page on The Knot, Rachel had written about how she and Brandon first met in middle school at just 12 years old. “I caught Brandon’s attention by stealing cologne from his locker and running away with it,” she wrote, a sweet and playful memory that marked the beginning of a lifelong bond.
Although they stayed friends for 15 years, it wasn’t until 2022 that they started dating. Their love grew quickly, and in the summer of 2023, Brandon proposed at Big Cedar Lake in Slinger, a special place where Rachel had spent countless summers with her grandparents. The moment was filled with joy and hope for their future together.
On their wedding page, Rachel wrote, “We can’t wait to share the next chapter of our love story surrounded by our friends and family.” The couple tied the knot on October 12, 2024, and by all accounts, they had been looking forward to marking their one-year anniversary this month.
Instead, police say their lives ended tragically inside that car. A preliminary investigation revealed that both Rachel and Brandon suffered a single gunshot wound. Officers recovered a firearm inside the vehicle.
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At first, residents in the area were warned to stay sheltered in place as authorities worked to figure out if there was any danger. The heavy police presence and urgent alerts left the community shaken. Later, officials determined there was no ongoing threat to the public.
“It was later determined there was no ongoing threat to the community,” police said in their release.
The case remains under active investigation, with more questions than answers about what exactly happened that night on Route 14.
For those who knew the Dumoviches, the loss feels almost surreal. Their story, which began with a mischievous act in middle school and blossomed into marriage, was supposed to be just getting started. Instead, family and friends are left grieving the sudden and tragic end of a couple who had hoped for a lifetime of memories together.