CHEYENNE - An Army sniper who killed himself after being charged with his wife's murder appeared to have prepared for his own death.

Investigators found a cardboard box with personal belongings in a camper near where David Munis, 36, shot himself in remote area north of Laramie Tuesday night.

Notes on the box explained who should receive the property and how Munis wanted his remains handled, Albany County Sheriff Jim Pond said Wednesday.

The notes were basically a "last will," said Pond, who declined to specify what Munis wanted done with his remains.

Pond said he didn't know the contents of the box.

Tuesday evening, a tip from a man on horseback led authorities to a camper on Kamp Cattle Co. ranch land, eight miles northwest of Rogers Canyon, where Munis' truck was found a night earlier. Law enforcement officers found Munis about 10 feet from the camper. He had shot himself once in the chest.

He was airlifted to Ivinson Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"I don't know if he just decided, at the end, that he wasn't willing to take another life and he wasn't going to force us to take his," Cheyenne police Capt. Jeff Schulz said. "You can look into what was going into his mind all day, and I don't think we'll ever really know."

Officers recovered two weapons from the scene: a .22-caliber pistol and a .257-caliber Weatherby Magnum rifle. Munis used the rifle to shoot himself, Pond said.

Authorities don't know yet whether the same rifle was used to shoot Robin Munis, 40, in the head as she sang with her band at an Old Chicago restaurant in Cheyenne just after midnight Saturday. The Munises had separated recently.

Police say they gathered substantial evidence from the Munis' home in Cheyenne, including a six-page handwritten note addressed to "Everyone." Schulz described it Tuesday as a "near confession."

On Wednesday, Schulz declined to comment on whether investigators found evidence indicating Munis planned to kill himself. And police weren't releasing the note because they have to complete their investigation, he said.

"We still have to prove he did it," Schulz said. "In case there's any question about what happened sometime in the future."

Friends said the Munises' relationship had taken a turn for the worse over the two weeks after Robin Munis moved out of their semi-rural home on Cheyenne's west side. Police said David Munis made several harassing calls to his wife's cell phone just hours before killing her.

Robin Munis' killing set off a nearly four-day manhunt for her husband. More than 70 officers combed the Rogers Canyon area Tuesday searching for David Munis.

They proceeded cautiously because of his military background. He served in the U.S. Army, where in 2001 he received sniper training at Fort Benning, Ga., and he was a member of the Wyoming Army National Guard, police said.

Munis didn't see combat or serve overseas, said Wyoming Army National Guard spokeswoman Deidre Forster.

The search focused on an area 10 miles in diameter around where Munis' pickup was found. During the day, officers, along with Black Hawk helicopters and several dog teams, failed to find any signs of the military sharpshooter.

However, at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, a man, whom authorities haven't identified, called Albany County dispatchers to report seeing Munis. As he gave directions to the camper, he heard a single gunshot, Albany County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Garcia said at a Tuesday night press conference.

The camper belongs to Kamp Cattle Co. and is used by its cattle hands for shelter, Pond said.

Authorities don't have a definite timeline for Munis' whereabout from the shooting until the discovery at the camper, Pond said. However, the sheriff doesn't think that Munis planned to go to the camper.

"It was just a matter of it was there when he walked up to it," he said, adding that was merely his speculation.

In addition to the weapons and the box of belongings, officers found two empty field rations and a box of .22-caliber cartridges.

Investigators processed the camper site Tuesday night, and all evidence will be forwarded to Cheyenne police, Pond said.

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@casperstartribune.net.