A 46-year-old Annandale man killed his terminally ill 48-year-old girlfriend in her Rose Hill home Thursday and then turned the gun on himself.

On Thursday, April 10, at 3:45 p.m., police arrived to the home on Overly Drive and found Robert Persigehl and Vanessa Miller dead of gunshot wounds. Police said a handgun was found at the scene and investigators determined that Persigehl shot Miller, then shot himself.

Police said another person who lived at the house came home from work and found the two.

Two longtime friends of Persigehl, who asked not to be named, described him as easygoing; a man who would go out of his way to help people.

"Robert is not a murderer by any means. When he pulled the trigger it was done out of compassion," speculated a friend who has known and worked with Persigehl, who worked in construction, for 15 years.

Miller's sister, Jessie Adam confirmed that her sister had a terminal disease.

"She'd been sick a long time ... with a disease that would have eventually killed her," Adam said.

"We were shocked, and we're coping," Adam said.

A childhood friend of Persigehl's said, "Robert would put others in front of himself and maybe as a result that's why things turned out the way they did. There should be more people in the world like him and he shouldn't be judged by his last day."