Maine State Police say they are investigating the deaths of a man and woman whose bodies were found in their home in Hebron on Thursday afternoon.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state police, said investigators suspect their deaths were a murder-suicide.

The names and ages of the deceased were not being released Thursday evening, to give family members the time they need to notify other relatives, said McCausland, who he expects to identify the victims publicly on Friday morning.

The body of the woman was found in a bathroom in the house on Marshall Pond Road in Hebron. McCausland said the man’s body was found on a porch at the home, and a shotgun was near his body.

“Detectives say it appears both had been shot,” McCausland said in a statement issued Thursday night.

Sgt. Mark Holmquist with the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit told WCSH-TV that a neighbor discovered the bodies around 2 p.m. and notified the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office. McCausland said the neighbor was called by relatives to check on the people who live at the home. McCausland did not say how long they had been dead.

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Holmquist told the television station that other people lived at the home but were not there when the shooting happened. He would not comment on the man and woman’s relationship.

“We believe everyone who has knowledge of these two individuals – family, friends – they’re all accounted for tonight and we feel comfortable with that and, like I said, they’re cooperating with investigators,” WCSH-TV reported.

The Sun Journal in Lewiston reported that the two people had lived at the home but the man hadn’t been living there for some time.

Police gathered evidence from the home, from nearby woods and from a white SUV parked on the road outside the home.

The bodies were taken to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta, where autopsies will be done Friday.


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