STUART — Two people are dead in what Patrick County officials believe to be a murder-suicide.

According to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith, his office received a call at about 10:46 a.m. Monday to investigate a shooting on Horace Lane. A family member had gone to the home just after 10:30 a.m. and found two bodies inside.

“Deputies arrived on (the) scene and found the body (of) Michael David Lawson, 32, who had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Smith said in a statement. “Also found inside the residence was Misty Dawn Blevins, 30, who had died of a single gunshot wound.”

Lawson and Blevins lived together at the residence on Horace Lane, Smith said, adding that his office is treating the investigation as a murder-suicide.

Smith said the bodies have been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Roanoke, but that evidence at the scene points to a specific direction, although the investigation is continuing.

“Evidence suggests that Lawson shot and killed Blevins and then committed suicide sometime during the previous two days,” Smith said.

Criminal investigators with the Virginia State Police are assisting the sheriff’s office with the investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact Smith confidentially at 276-692-7012 or Patrick County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Brian Hubbard at 276-692-6512.