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According to relatives, the husband and wife took their own lives in their home in Vermont

According to relatives, the husband and wife took their own lives in their home in Vermont

The couple, who had been together for more than 70 years, ended their lives by murder or suicide at the home they shared in Newfane, a small town in eastern Vermont, according to authorities and relatives of the couple.

The bodies of 91-year-old Blake Prescott and 88-year-old Helen Prescott were found by relatives Friday at their home on South Wardsboro Road, Vermont State Police said. The state medical examiner concluded that Helen Prescott died of a gunshot wound to the torso and that her death was a homicide. Blake Prescott died of a gunshot wound to the chest, his death was ruled a suicide.

The Prescotts’ family released a statement through the state police, which is overseeing the investigation into their deaths.

“As a devoted couple of more than 70 years who recently suffered a dramatic decline in health, they chose to die together as they had lived together,” the family said.

Blake Prescott was a retired physician who in recent years had written articles for the Brattleboro Reformer, the newspaper said. He has also published two books, one entitled Love in the Wave of Covid-19 and the other Short Stories, Short Stories and Unexpected Endings: An Armchair Map to Extraordinary Adventures.

The Globe’s Jeremiah Manion contributed to this report.


John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JREbosglobe.