Detroit Free Press staff

Authorities are investigating the deaths of a Commerce Township couple Sunday in what appears to be a murder-suicide.

According to a news release from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, the husband, 55, is believed to have shot his 49-year-old wife to death before fatally overdosing on pills.

The incident happened at about 4:15 p.m. on Saturday when a man drove to the police agency's Commerce substation to report that he'd gotten an email from a friend saying that he was suicidal.

Deputies made a welfare check at the friend's home in the 3000 block of Timberlake Drive but nobody answered. The deputies forced their way into the garage and found an empty vehicle running.

They searched the house and found a woman on the floor of the master bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband was dead on the floor of the master bathroom.

A 9 mm handgun was recovered from the master bedroom closet.

The case is under investigation.

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