WEST PARIS – Further details are expected Monday afternoon in a pair of weekend deaths investigators call “highly suspicious” and neighbors consider “a fluke.”

The victims – identified as homeowner Timothy Mayberry, 50, and Todd Smith, 43, of South Paris – were discovered Saturday after a passing motorist found Mayberry’s body lying along a stone wall outside his Tuelltown Road residence. Upon their arrival at the scene shortly after the 5 p.m. cell phone call to 911, officials made the gruesome discovery of a second body inside Mayberry’s bungalow-style home.

Maine State Police investigators spent Sunday trying to piece together the crime. Spokesman Steve McCausland said the deaths are thought to have occurred overnight Friday or early Saturday morning – even though the bodies weren’t found until Saturday evening. He added that the state police are being assisted by game wardens from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife because Mayberry’s body was discovered outside the home and game wardens are specially trained to investigate outdoor crime scenes.

“At this point, we are not releasing what we suspect is the cause of death,” McCausland said during a Sunday afternoon press conference. “We believe the two were friends and did know each other.”

According to McCausland, Mayberry was a self-employed painter and contractor. An Internet search revealed that he owned Tim Mayberry Interior/Exterior Painting, but it was unclear whether the business was located in Oxford or West Paris.

McCausland declined to release many details about the deaths – aside from calling them highly suspicious – due to the ongoing investigation. He said that initial exams Sunday confirmed victim identities, but that official causes of death would not be released until the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office performed full autopsies.

A team of crime scene investigators spent Sunday combing the brush alongside the sparsely-populated, wooded road in Oxford County and carefully collecting evidence from inside 89 Tuelltown Road. Meanwhile, concerned residents suddenly found reasons to make their way to the crest of the hill in hopes of learning more about the case before investigators closed off a mile-long stretch of Tuelltown Road between Benson and Morse Hill Roads with help from members of the West Paris Fire Department.

“We figure it’s a fluke,” said neighbor Jen McKay, who moved across the street from Mayberry two years ago when she relocated to Maine from Massachusetts. “I expect this in Massachusetts. I didn’t expect it here.”

Investigators did not indicate that there were any suspects as of late Sunday night. While McCausland wasn’t warning neighbors to vacate their homes or install bars on the windows, he did stress the need for Mainers to lock their doors and take note of their surroundings nowadays – no matter where they live.

“The time of leaving your doors unlocked and keys in the car are long gone,” McCausland said. “There’s no cause for public alarm, but there are two men dead and we’re working very hard to determine why.”