Police have confirmed that two suspicious sudden deaths in Mahone Bay were a murder and suicide related to intimate partner violence.

At about 1:05 p.m. on Jan. 5, Lunenberg RCMP responded to a wellness check on two people at a home on Long Hill Road.

When police arrived, they found the remains of a 60-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man.

The Southwest Nova Scotia Major Crime Unit took over when police determined the deaths were suspicious.

The Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the man murdered the woman and then took his own life. Police say he died of “self-inflicted wounds.”

This is the 6th person killed as a result of intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia in recent months.

Although the province declared domestic violence an epidemic in the fall, several organizations are now calling for epidemic-level funding.