Police investigating apparent murder-suicide at central Arkansas home

Authorities were investigating two bodies found in Conway Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities were investigating two bodies found in Conway Tuesday afternoon.

The friend of a 22-year-old woman found dead near her husband told police she worried for her safety, police said Wednesday as they continued investigating the central Arkansas couple's death as an apparent murder-suicide.

The Conway Police Department identified the bodies of Shelby and Madison Dodd, both 22. Officers found the couple unresponsive in the back bedroom of a home along Club Lane Tuesday afternoon, hours after a friend expressed concern for Shelby's welfare.

Police said the friend told them the couple had been in the middle of breaking up and asked police to check on them.

Officers responded to the home Tuesday morning after talking to the friend but left when nothing seemed amiss, police spokeswoman LaTresha Woodruff said.

They returned around 3 p.m. after other friends and family couldn't reach Shelby, and they found the couple unresponsive.

Investigators suspect Madison Dodd shot his wife and then shot himself, Woodruff said.

The state Crime Lab is performing an autopsy, and police said the deaths remained under investigation Wednesday morning.

Police haven't said when the couple died, but Woodruff said Tuesday that their deaths appeared to be recent.

The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-(TALK) 8255.

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