In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Delaware County sheriff's deputies responded to a call in the village of Franklin and found a man and a woman dead inside a home.
Investigator Karl Vagts of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office said that their deaths are being investigated as a possible murder-suicide.
"At this point, that's what were looking at. But we're still doing further investigation and the autopsy is still pending," he said.
Vagts declined to comment further on the cause of death, saying that the Sheriff's Office will release more information after the autopsy was complete.
A press release issued by the Sheriff's Office states that deputies are being assisted by the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Unit. The names of the deceased are being withheld while their families are notified.
Update, 5:30pm: SUNY Delhi has identified the couple as Willis Brown, an engineer who taught courses in the Applied Sciences and Technology Division, and Wendy Brown, a financial adviser at the Morgan McReynolds Group in Oneonta. From a newsletter emailed to the SUNY Delhi campus community today:
A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT VANCKO
We have been informed that Willis Brown and his wife, Wendy, died this morning at their home in Franklin. These have been deemed unattended deaths that are under investigation. No additional information has been released by the investigating agencies and we will share official reports when they become available. Counseling and Student Life staffs continue to assist students and faculty during this very difficult time for our campus community.
The Daily Star has also identified the couple, and spoken to several of their neighbors in Franklin:
Neighbor Larry Archbold, who said he moved to Franklin from Wisconsin two months ago, described the couple as “good folks,” although he didn’t know them well. He said he saw them in the yard regularly, doing things like raking leaves.
Archbold said that in the time he lived diagonally across the street from the house there had been no hint of trouble, noise or arguments.
“Nothing usually goes on in Franklin,” he said. Archbold said he saw authorities take two gurneys into the house at about 11:30 a.m. but didn’t see the guerneys brought out.
A woman in Franklin who declined to give her name, said the couple had two sons, 18 and 24 years old.
