State police believe two deaths stemming from a shooting in Crabtree nearly a year ago were the result of a murder-suicide.

In a report issued Thursday, troopers identified Marie Southern, 61, as the victim.

She was found wandering on Brown Lane in early April and appeared confused, troopers said. It was later determined she had a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to a hospital.

Troopers said they found her husband, Jimmy L. Southern, 80, dead in the Kennedy Street house where the couple lived from a gunshot wound. Marie Southern died in September at an Irwin nursing home from complications of a gunshot wound to the head.

Trooper Jacob Feryus said Friday it took a long time for evidence testing results to be received from the lab. Despite state police investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide, Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson said the manner of death for both Southerns remains undetermined.

“Through our investigation, including autopsy, we didn’t have enough evidence to make a definitive conclusion on the manner of death for either person,” he said.

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