VERDE VILLAGE -- The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what is believed to be a murder-suicide that occurred in Verde Village.

According to YCSO spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn, “Deputies were dispatched to a welfare check at a home in the 4500 block of East Vista Drive on Oct. 7. Deputies made entry via unlocked door and found a male and female deceased, both lying on a bed in the bedroom and each with apparent gunshot wounds.

D’Evelyn continued that preliminary information as of Thursday, including autopsy results, indicates the man shot the woman and then killed himself.

Next of kin have been notified, said D’Evelyn.

The man was 78 years old. The 71-year-old woman was his ex-wife.

“Although divorced, they had been living together,” said D’Evelyn.