TEMPLE — An autopsy conducted Wednesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed that the couple found dead inside a home in Temple Tuesday were killed by a single gunshot to each of their heads during a murder-suicide.

Investigators believe that Thomas Masse, 60, first shot his wife, Michelle, 59, and then killed himself, according to a news release from Steve McCausland, the spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The two bodies were found in separate rooms after tactical team members entered the Temple Road home about 12:30 p.m. Michelle Masse’s body was in the bathtub and Thomas Masse’s body was sitting in a chair in the living room with a handgun at his side.

The police first were sent to the home after Thomas Masse contacted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office about 5:50 that morning, saying he was going to kill himself.

At 6 a.m., after Franklin County Deputy Bradley Scovil and a Farmington police officer arrived at the home, Scovil tried calling the couple’s respective cellphones without success. Additional calls were made to the home after more state troopers and deputies arrived.

A tactical team and crisis negotiation team arrived at the home by mid-morning, but efforts to communicate were unsuccessful.

Thomas Masse worked at Collins Enterprises in Wilton and Michelle Masse worked at the Colonial Valley Motel in Farmington.

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