PORTLAND – Police have identified the two women found dead Monday in a State Street apartment as 61-year-old twins, but the cause of their deaths remains unknown.

A maintenance worker found the bodies of Linda Salliotte and Judith Fuller in Salliotte’s apartment in Longfellow Commons at 206 State St. Police Lt. Gary Rogers said both had been staying in Salliotte’s apartment because work was being done on Fuller’s apartment in the same building.

Longfellow Commons provides subsidized housing for senior citizens and people with disabilities. The maintenance worker was checking on the women because they hadn’t been seen in a couple of days.

Autopsies were performed Wednesday, but no cause of death was determined, Rogers said. He said there was nothing in the apartment to suggest foul play or suicide. Further tests are being conducted, including a toxicology report, but those take weeks to complete, Rogers said.

The apartment did not have air conditioning and police believe the two died over the weekend, as a heat wave was ending. But Rogers said there’s no indication the heat was a factor.

An official with the state Medical Examiner’s Office said that if heat contributed to the twins’ deaths, an autopsy would not necessarily show that, and it would more likely be disclosed by further tests.

Salliotte and Fuller were identical twins and “inseparable,” said Pam Bosarge, their sister.

“They were always together,” she said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time they were in one another’s apartment.”

Each woman had two children, Bosarge said. She said Salliotte was widowed and Fuller was divorced. She wasn’t aware of any serious health problems affecting her sisters.

Bosarge said the three of them grew up in Cumberland. Their parents now live in Turner.

Longfellow Commons is owned by LF Associates and managed by Weston Associates Management Co. Both are listed at the same number in Boston. A woman answering the phone there said the company does not comment for news stories.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com

 

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