PORTLAND — Foul play is not suspected in the deaths of Miguel Angel Vega-Hernandez and Felicia Danielle Vega, the married couple found dead in their Bayside apartment Tuesday, according to authorities.

Autopsies were conducted Wednesday. Toxicology tests are needed to determine what killed them, said Mark Belserene, administrator for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

“But we can say there’s no indication of foul play,” Belserene said.

It typically takes four to six weeks to get results of toxicology tests, which are performed at an out-of-state laboratory, he said.

A maintenance worker discovered the bodies of Vega-Hernandez, 30, and Vega, 25, in their apartment at 257-259 Oxford St.

Lt. Gary Rogers, head of Portland police detectives, said the deaths do not appear to be suspicious, a category that would include deaths from domestic violence.

Rogers said carbon monoxide poisoning had been ruled out because no possible source was found in the apartment. He said he could not discuss whether any notes or drug paraphernalia were among the items that police collected from the apartment.

Court records indicate that allegations of domestic abuse had been lodged against both Vega and Vega-Hernandez, and that they were the parents of an 8-month-old daughter.

Rogers said the child was not living with her parents at the apartment, but was well. He would not say who had custody of the infant.

In September, Vega sought a protection from abuse order against her husband in Springvale District Court near Sanford, where she lived at the time. In her complaint, Vega wrote that her husband, who was living at the Oxford Street address, had beaten her badly during her pregnancy and after she delivered their child. She said he had given her black eyes and bruises, subjected her to verbal abuse and isolated her from her family.

Under the protection order, Vega-Hernandez was barred from contact with his wife and was allowed supervised visits with their daughter that were arranged and supervised by a third party.

In November, Vega asked for the termination of the protection order. Her request was granted Dec. 2.

“Miguel is my husband. I love him very much. I am not afraid or in fear of Miguel,” she wrote in her motion.

Both husband and wife faced criminal charges related to domestic violence in Portland.

Vega-Hernandez was charged with obstructing the report of a crime in August and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge. He was charged with violating a protective order, another misdemeanor, in October and a court date had been scheduled for Wednesday, the day after their bodies were found.

Vega was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence assault in October, but the charge was dismissed the following month. Rogers said the target of the alleged assault was her husband, but he could not discuss the circumstances of the incident.

Gerald Huff and Melinda Campbell, a couple who live in the Oxford Street building, spoke of Vega-Hernandez as a helpful and friendly neighbor. They and others in the building called him Angel.

“He had a job. He had his head together,” Campbell said.

They had seen a woman they believed to be the mother of Vega-Hernandez’s daughter, but were not familiar with her. Campbell said problems at the building earned it the nickname “Crack Shack.” Huff, however, said the situation had improved under the current ownership.

The 17-unit apartment building, located near the Salvation Army headquarters and Preble Street Resource Center, had been designated as a disorderly house in the summer of 2010. There were problems with fights, drunkenness and unruly behavior, and the location made it a magnet for transients, said Trish McAllister, the neighborhood prosecutor at the police department.

The problems had persisted for so long that the city sued the then-owners of the property, which was once considered among the worst 10 in Portland, she said. The case was resolved through a settlement.

The current owner, LMG Properties LLC, bought the property at auction in July. McAllister said the new owner has been cooperative and attentive and that the property has quieted down.

Marc Fishman, a real estate broker who manages the property for the current owners, said the building has undergone many changes, including extensive renovations and a significant turnover in tenants.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:

akim@pressherald.com