CHAPMAN, Maine — State police said Friday afternoon that the deaths of an elderly couple who died within hours of each other was a case of domestic violence murder-suicide.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said that Marcus Sykora, 81, shot his wife, 77-year-old Sheila Sykora, and then turned the gun on himself. He died in the basement of his daughter’s home at 2184 Chapman Road and his wife was found there seriously injured. She was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital but died a short time later.

The rulings came after autopsies were conducted Friday at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta. After reviewing the results and information provided by detectives, the medical examiner’s office ruled that each died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

According to McCausland, the couple were found in their basement apartment by their daughter Sylvia Buob, with whom they lived. She was in another section of the home when the shootings took place.

She heard the gunshots, went to her parent’s apartment, then called 911.

McCausland said that the couple had a number of medical problems and had moved to Chapman to live with Buob in recent months, after living with their son in Kansas City, Mo.

After receiving the 911 call from the home about 11:20 a.m., first responders from the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine Warden Service arrived at the dwelling to find the man was dead and his wife seriously injured.

State police detectives spent Thursday collecting evidence from the scene and remained through the night, according to Lt. Chris Coleman.

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