The 39-year-old victim of a Tuesday night murder was a sweet, quiet woman and good mother, friends and neighbors said on Wednesday.

Deborah Marlo Wigg, 39, of the 100 block of Grove Avenue in the Oak Ridge subdivision, was fatally shot late Tuesday after she placed 911 calls to report her estranged husband ringing her doorbell repeatedly and breaking into her house.

He later was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in front of her parents’ house.

“Debbie was a very sweet, quiet young woman, a great mother,” said the Rev. Jim George, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, where she and her parents have been attending their entire lives.

George said Wigg had recently begun teaching a children’s Sunday school class at the church and helping the children’s director.

“She was glowing, having a wonderful time doing that,” George said. She always brought her children, ages 10 and 4, to church, he added.

The tragedy began to unfold at 11 p.m., when 911 dispatchers received several calls from the victim and her neighbors. She stated that her husband, whom she had a protective order against, had been repeatedly ringing her doorbell, according to a city press release.

At one point, as she was speaking to dispatchers, Deborah Wigg advised them that her husband, Robert Lyndon Wigg, 43, of Virginia Beach, had forced his way into her home. The line then went dead.

Neighbors also called 911, as well as the home of the wife’s parents, who left to try to assist their daughter.

When police arrived at Deborah Wigg’s home, they found her dead. The two children also were found in the home. They are now in the custody of relatives, the city said.

Her husband had fled the scene and driven to the nearby home of her parents, located in the 1600 block of Ronald Drive.

Because of heavy fog and low visibility in the area, the SWAT team was called for assistance. When police located the suspect, they found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the city press release.

Deborah Wigg’s neighbor, Junius Britt, said she had moved into the Ronald Drive home this spring.

“I’ve talked to her maybe three or four times since she’s been here,” he said. “She seemed to be a real nice person to me. I didn’t have any idea she was having any trouble.”

Britt said he was asleep at the time of the incident and didn’t hear anything.

According to her Facebook page, Deborah Wigg graduated from Forest Glen High School in 1990 and Old Dominion University in 1994. Britt said she worked as a certified public accountant.

“The boys are holding up well, and the family is holding up well,” George said. “It’s hitting our church and our community very hard. We’re going to walk with them through this process.”