Another murder-suicide involving intimate partner violence in the Sault

The two bodies found at a Sault Ste. Marie home last month have been deemed a murder-suicide in another tragic case of intimate partner violence in the city, police say.

Officers were called to a home in the 0-100 block of Boundary Road at 12:30 p.m. May 1 and found a husband and wife dead, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service said in an update Tuesday morning.

Police in Sault Ste. Marie are investigating two sudden deaths on Boundary Road on Wednesday. (Cory Nordstrom/CTV News)

"The wife was located inside the residence and the husband was located outside the residence in a vehicle," police said.

"An investigation determined that this incident was a murder-suicide wherein the female was fatally strangled by her husband, who then died by self-strangulation."

Neighbours told CTV News an elderly couple lived at the home.

Police said they are not releasing identifying information, calling it an isolated incident.

"This appears to have been an act of intimate partner violence," police said.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie was rocked last October when a man shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and his three children before turning the gun on himself.  During the violent rampage, he also shot the children's mother, but she survived.

Abbie,12, Nate, 6, and Ally Hallaert, 7, were killed by their father Bobbie in a murder-suicide involving intimate partner violence in Sault Ste. Marie in October. (Supplied)

Angie Sweeney was killed in Sault Ste. Marie by her former partner in September. (Supplied)

In the wake of that tragedy, the city declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, joining dozens of other communities across Canada.

Why people stay

A northern Ontario crisis worker told CTV News in November that many people stay in abusive relationships because "it's not as simple as walking away."

There are many reasons why people stay in abusive relationships: love, fear, shame, lack of resources, children and the fact that abuse becomes normalized abuse.

Norma Elliot of Women in Crisis Algoma said physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse can escalate over time with the abuser apologizing and often placing the blame on the victim rather than taking accountability for their behaviour.

Well-meaning loved ones can sometimes make things worse.

Read more on that here.

Help is available

Confidential and free support is available for people experiencing violence. In an emergency, call 911.

• Assaulted Women's Helpline 1-866-863-0511
• Fem'aide Helpline 1-877-336-2433
• Talk4Healing for Indigenous women 1-855-554-4325
• National Domestic Violence Hotline