The shooting deaths of a Fryeburg couple whose bodies were discovered Tuesday were a domestic violence murder-suicide, Maine State Police said.

Mark Buzzell, 52, shot and killed his wife, Jody Buzzell, also 52, inside their home sometime Monday afternoon, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The bodies were found in separate buildings early Tuesday by the state police tactical team along West Fryeburg Road in Fryeburg, also known as Route 113.

Fryeburg police were called to the couple’s home by relatives around 4:30 p.m. Monday, said Fryeburg Police Chief Joshua Potvin, and members of the state police tactical team, negotiators and detectives also went to the scene.

After hours in subfreezing temperatures, the tactical team entered the house about 1 a.m. Tuesday and found the body of Jody Buzzell in a first-floor room.

The body of her husband was found around 5 a.m. in a vacant residence next door that is owned by another family member.

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Detectives said Mark Buzzell left a note and told family members he had killed his wife.

Lois Galgay Reckitt, executive director of Family Crisis Services, which helps victims of domestic violence crimes in Maine, issued a statement Tuesday night on the Fryeburg case.

“We are often constrained by confidentiality and cannot discuss either specific circumstances or even whether we have worked with particular victims or survivors,” Reckitt said. “However, I can tell you some of the most common excuses and fallacies that often play into similar cases.”

Reckitt said that as the police investigation unfolds, substance abuse and jealousy may be determined to have been factors in the slaying of Jody Buzzell.

“Substance abuse is often involved and often put forward as an excuse for horrific abuse, including murder, but there is in our words no excuse for domestic abuse. We watch jealousy being interpreted, even by teenagers, as a sign of love. We see it as a sign of pathology and danger,” Reckitt said.

“We are certain that these and other contributing factors may surface,” she added.

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Mary Bastoni of Fryeburg, an adjunct professor of voice at the University of Southern Maine’s School of Music, said Jody Buzzell was one of her closest friends.

“She had a beautiful personality, (was) a loving and caring mother and worked as a massage therapist in Mount Washington Valley” in New Hampshire, Bastoni wrote in an email.

Bastoni said her friend was the mother of four children and two grandchildren. “She was like a ray of sunshine when she entered the room with a beautiful smile, eyes and spirit,” Bastoni wrote. “She always put others first and would be the first to come to the aid of a friend in need.”

Bastoni added that the “tragic ending to her life is felt heavily for those who had the good fortune to know her.”

According to her Facebook page, Buzzell worked at Revive Spa Therapy as a holistic spa therapist. The spa is located at the Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, New Hampshire.

The couple’s bodies were removed to a local funeral home and will be taken to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta on Wednesday for autopsies.

The location of the murder-suicide is a few hundred feet from the New Hampshire state line, and New Hampshire State Police assisted in the search for Mark Buzzell during the night, according to McCausland.

Jody Buzzell’s death is the first homicide in Maine this year, said McCausland. There were 21 homicides in Maine last year, and 14 of those were the result of domestic violence.


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