Police officials say the murder victim was the mother of two boys and a girl, ages 12, 14 and 16.

Ocala Police Department detectives said two people found deceased in an apartment complex on Monday died from murder/suicide.

Roughly 24 hours after the bodies of the man and woman were discovered inside the Paradise Apartments, a duplex-style complex in Ocala, detectives released their names. The man was identified as Jose Rivera, 48, and the woman as 40-year-old Idiomaris Cruz.

Detectives said family members told them that Rivera and Cruz were married in January. Preliminary investigations by detectives with the neighbors indicate the couple lived at the apartment complex at 1946 SW 31st Ave. about a year.

Police officials said Cruz was the mother of two boys and a girl, ages 12, 14 and 16.

Autopsies were was done Tuesday and the cause and manner of death has been ruled a murder/suicide.

Authorities said the man shot the woman and then turned the gun on himself. Detectives said they did not find any suicide notes and did recover a handgun they believe was the weapon used. They believe the shooting occurred after the children left for school.

Detectives said that shortly after 5 p.m. Monday a neighbor called 911 after he found the two people unresponsive.

That neighbor, Patrick Bruce, told a Star-Banner reporter he was on his way to class at the College of Central Florida when he saw the three children standing outside an apartment crying and hysterical.

Bruce said he went to them and that a boy kept saying "mama" in Spanish. He said the boy did not want to let him inside the apartment but he told the boy that maybe he could help and the child allowed him to go inside, according to OPD officials.

Bruce told police he saw a woman face down on a bed with a wound in her back. A man was lying on the floor.

Bruce said he went to his apartment and called his fiancee, who is a nurse. She arrived at the apartment and checked the pulse of each person and told him the man and woman were dead, officials stated.

Bruce said he consoled the children, who were still outside, and called 911.

“It’s so, so sad. It’s really heartbreaking,” Bruce said.

About a month and a half ago, Bruce said, he and another neighbor had to extinguish a kitchen fire at the apartment. He said the woman and her daughter got out safely.

“They seemed like private people. They mainly kept to themselves,” he said.

He said he would see the woman taking the girl to the bus stop in the mornings. He said he would wave at the man when they saw each other.

Neighbors said they only knew the couple enough to say hi and rarely saw them.

Police officials said the children are staying with friends but are expected to soon be reunited with family members.

This was the second case of death by domestic violence this year. In 2016, there were five domestic violence deaths in the county.

— Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118, austin.miller@starbanner.com or @almillerosb.