Veteran accused of shooting wife found dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot after dayslong manhunt, officials say

(CNN) — The manhunt for a special forces veteran accused of shooting his wife ended when his body was found Wednesday, the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office said.

“Initial indications show he died due to a self inflicted gunshot wound,” the sheriff’s office said.

Craig Berry, 53, was wanted on suspicion of attempted murder after he attacked his wife at their Tennessee home and shot her as she tried to drive away on the night of April 30, the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office said. His wife, who suffered a neck wound, has been released from the hospital, Sheriff Frankie Gray told CNN.

“We can confirm Craig Mark Berry is deceased and no longer a threat to the public,” said Christian Marrero, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, which had been working with the sheriff’s office in the investigation, along with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

“The United States Marshals Service Middle District of Tennessee is proud to have assisted in the search for this violent criminal with our federal, state, and local partners,” he said.

Berry’s body was found several miles from his home, near the area where trail cameras captured him entering the woods, Gray told CNN.

In fact, Berry likely died not long after he fled early on May 1, Gray said, based on his body’s decomposition. Heat detection planes had not picked up anything during a search of the immediate area the next day.

By that point, Gray said, “his body temperature would have dropped low enough where we wouldn’t have picked that up.”

His body was also found about a quarter of a mile from his in-laws’ house, which wasn’t far from the house where Berry lived with his wife, Gray said. But the sheriff said he doesn’t believe Berry was going there to harm them.

Berry was found with a single weapon along with a supply of ammunition, the sheriff said, according to CNN affiliate WTVF.

A preliminary investigation shows he died from a gunshot wound to the head, Gray added. Berry’s body will be sent to the medical examiner for an official determination of death, he said.

Deputies had scoured rough terrain around Berry’s home in Dover, near the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, considered “one of the largest contiguous blocks of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States.”

In addition to second-degree attempted murder, Berry also faced charges of domestic assault, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident, court documents show.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Berry’s wife said her husband beat her and tried to strangle her shortly before midnight. She managed to get into her car, but Berry shot her as she fled, the wife told investigators.

Berry vanished into the nearby woods before deputies arrived and led authorities on an extensive manhunt through heavily forested terrain that included steep hills, snakes and ticks.

During the manhunt, Berry called his parents, who cooperated with investigators, the sheriff said before Berry’s body was found.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.