Portland police investigate the deaths of two people whose bodies were found in the woods off Forest Avenue on Monday morning. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Portland police are investigating the deaths of two men who were found in the woods near a Hannaford supermarket in the Riverton neighborhood.

Officers were called to the area between the Hannaford on Riverside Street and the former Tortilla Flat restaurant on Forest Avenue at 7:42 a.m. Monday after two unresponsive men were discovered in the snow, department spokesperson Brad Nadeau said.

They arrived to find 57-year-old William Liese and 44-year old Lee Thomas Johnson deceased at the scene, according to a news release.

Both men are believed to be homeless, police said, and their cause and manner of death will be determined pending autopsies by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Andrew Bove, Preble Street’s vice president of social work, said these deaths are tragic and “everyone deserves safety and the support to stay alive.” He said the community and the state must prioritize permanent, supportive housing with wraparound services as well as make shelters as accessible as possible.

“If we want our vulnerable neighbors to survive the winter, we need to work together and resolve this unsheltered homelessness crisis with compassion,” Bove said in a written statement. “With even more winter weather in the forecast, if we work together, we can make sure that no one else dies outside in the cold.”

A stretch of yellow crime tape hung between two trees in the sparse patch of woods on Monday. At around 10:45 a.m., several Portland police officers trudged through deep snow, pulling two white body bags behind them.

Officers at the scene declined to provide any information about what had happened. By 11 a.m., all traces of the crime scene were gone.

Anyone with information is asked to call Portland police at 207-874-8575 or text PPDME and a message to 847411.

Staff writers Grace Benninghoff and Gillian Graham contributed to this report.