Police in Zephyrhills, Fla., are withholding the cause of death of a woman with ties to Otisfield and her live-in boyfriend who were found murdered there Tuesday.

Police Chief Russ Barnes said Wednesday afternoon that the bodies of Irene “Rita” Martin, 45, and Craig Thomas, 54, were both found in the master bathroom of the mobile home they shared in a quiet neighborhood of this town best known for its spring water.

Barnes said police went to the home Tuesday morning after getting a call from Martin’s sister Margaret Martin of Otisfield, who was worried about Irene’s well-being.

Autopsies were performed Wednesday, Barnes said, but the findings weren’t being made public until at least “later in the week.”

Barnes said his department has issued a nationwide “stop and hold” bulletin for a car owned by Thomas’ son, Kyle, a 27-year-old “person of interest” in the case.

Kyle Thomas had been living with Martin and Craig Thomas for at least the past few weeks, Barnes said, and possibly longer.

“He’s missing at this time,” Barnes said of the younger Thomas. “He could be a suspect, or he could be a victim,” the chief said.

The car being sought is a gray 1979 Oldsmobile Toronado with Florida license plate number 61149, Barnes said. It’s a handicap plate bearing the symbol of a wheelchair.

He said Kyle Thomas previously lived in northern Georgia. He has a criminal record in that state, Barnes said, although Barnes said he didn’t yet know specifics of the record.

Barnes said crime scene technicians and coroner’s staff had made the determination that the murders occurred several days ago.

He said neighbors to the Martin-Thomas home said they saw Kyle Thomas’ car leave the area about 1 a.m. “about four or five days ago.”

After getting Martin’s call Tuesday morning, police officers went to the mobile home and found it locked up and quiet, the chief said.

“They didn’t want to break into the place only to find out the folks had gone on vacation,” Barnes said, so they called Margaret Martin back to get her OK to bring a locksmith to the home.

“Once they gained access, they saw a woman’s body in the master bathroom. They backed out and called in the crime scene technicians,” Barnes said.

The technicians discovered the senior Thomas’ body in the same bathroom, he added.

Zephyrhills police then notified Maine State Police, who with an Oxford Police Department officer notified Margaret Martin of her sister’s death Tuesday afternoon, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said.

A woman who answered the telephone at Margaret Martin’s home on South Tamworth Road on Wednesday evening said, “I’m not ready to talk yet.”

County property records in Florida show that Irene Martin and Craig Thomas purchased their modest Lawanda Loop home in 1998.

Barnes said the last slaying in the quiet Florida town occurred in 2002, but that this is the first double slaying in Zephyrhills that he knows of.

He expects to solve the case, though.

“We’ve got a 100 percent clearance rate” for murders, he said.