Husband and wife in their 70s found dead in Graham — deputies suspect murder-suicide pact

As far as Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies can tell, the elderly couple planned their deaths together.

The report came in shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. Deputies responded to the 34500 block of 40th Avenue East, after a family member reported finding a husband and wife in their 70s, both dead from fatal gunshot wounds.

“No obvious signs of break-in, no outside influence,” said sheriff’s spokesman Alex Richards. “There was some evidence left at the scene that they were kind of planning this murder-suicide pact, and carried it out. Credible enough for us to believe this was planned between these two individuals.”

Richards did not specify the precise nature of the evidence, or the couple’s exact age. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office was responding to the scene Friday evening. A formal determination of the cause and manner of death will follow.