Deputies find body buried in backyard of man who killed himself

UPDATE: Deputies have found a body buried in the backyard of a man who shot and killed himself Tuesday night, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The medical examiner's office is working to identify the remains, but evidence suggests that they are those of the man's wife.

Read the original report below.

Deputies in Florida are investigating a possible murder-suicide.

A concerned relative called deputies on Tuesday, saying he hadn’t heard from Laurence Caulfield and his wife for several months. However, he said he received a package in the mail that included the couple’s will, life insurance policy and other financial and medication information, deputies said.

Inside the package was also a letter from Caulfield, 75, who said his wife had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and that he was struggling to cope physically and emotionally, deputies said.

Deputies went to the Caulfied home in Deltona on Tuesday night. Caulfield told them that his wife has Alzheimer's disease, and she had recently moved to Kansas City to live with friends of the family. That proved to be not true, deputies said.

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While deputies were at the home, they heard a gunshot at 10:27 p.m. and found Caulfield dead in the backyard from a gunshot wound to the head, investigators said.

Deputies said they found a stack of papers and a note from Caulfield in the home, saying that he killed his ailing wife and buried her in the backyard.

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