Family says Vermont couple 'chose to die together'

Police have identified the elderly Vermont couple found dead in their home last Friday, and family members released a statement saying the husband and wife “chose to die together.”

The investigation began on Friday around 5 p.m. after police received a call from relatives who reported finding two family members dead in a home on South Wardsboro Road in Newfane, Vermont. First responders confirmed the deaths after arriving at the scene.

Vermont State Police said autopsies conducted Monday determined the two individuals were 91-year-old Blake Prescott and 88-year-old Helen Prescott, a married couple who lived in the home.

The medical examiner determined that Helen’s cause of death was gunshot wounds to the torso, and the manner of death was homicide. Blake’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest, and the manner of death was suicide.

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The Prescott family released a statement through state police, saying that Blake and Helen “shared a lifetime of love and commitment to each other.”

“As a devoted couple of more than 70 years, who had recently experienced precipitously declining health, they chose to die together as they’d lived together,” the family’s statement said.

State police said their investigation into the incident remains ongoing.