2 fatally shot at North Shore office

May 11, 2004, 10:07 AM

Police today were investigating the shooting deaths of the owner of a north suburban moving company and his secretary, but they stopped short of describing the incident as a murder-suicide, CLTV reported.

Francis Larkin, 58, owner of North Shore Movers, and Dorothy Striblen, 41, were found dead about 6 p.m. Monday in an office of the business at 600 Waukegan Rd. in unincorporated Northfield Township, near Northbrook, authorities said. "One of the deceased phoned an employee who had left the business Monday afternoon and summoned him back to the office," sheriff's spokeswoman Penny Mateck said. "That person found both victims lying dead."

Both victims had sustained gunshot wounds. Police recovered a handgun near the bodies, CLTV reported.

Larkin lived on the 3600 block of Linneman Street, while Striblen lived on the 4400 block of Lake Avenue, both in Glenview, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. They were pronounced dead at the scene at 9:05 p.m. Monday, she said.
"It's very shocking. Very shocking," Steve Klaus, Larkin's brother-in-law, told CLTV. "They were fabulous people to work for. Frank Larkin was just one of a kind."

While another official of the medical examiner's office said the deaths appeared to be a murder-suicide, sheriff's police today declined to characterize the shootings in that manner and said their investigation was ongoing.