Elderly Couple Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide, Left Notes About High Medical Bills

“Several notes were left citing severe ongoing medical problems with the wife" and expressing concerns that they could not afford medical care, the sheriff's office said

An elderly husband and wife died in an apparent murder-suicide in Washington state, and police say they found notes about the couple's struggles to afford needed medical care, NBC News reported.

A 77-year-old man called 911 on Wednesday morning saying he planned to die by suicide, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Deputies went to the home of the man in Ferndale, a town about 100 miles north of Seattle near the Canadian border, and set up outside. A crisis negotiator attempted to contact the couple in the home by phone and loudspeaker for about an hour, said the sheriff's office post on Wednesday night.

They then found both the man and his wife, 76, dead inside. Authorities are investigating the case as a murder-suicide.

Contact Us