AMERICAN FORK, Utah — Police say two people were found dead inside an American Fork home following a welfare check Wednesday.
The check was performed at the home in the area of 200 North and Center Street after neighbors said they hadn't seen the elderly couple who had lived there since November.
On Friday, police identified the couple as Sally and Duane Francom, both were 84 years old.
Inside the home, officers found the bodies of the Francoms in an intermediate-to-advanced stage of decomposition.
Due to the state of the bodies, police said it is difficult to know what happened to the couple, but added that their deaths appeared to be suspicious, adding that the husband and wife were found in different rooms.
"Obviously, everything is very early on and there isn't a specific indication about what happened yet, but there are some concerning elements to the scene," said American Fork Police Chief Cameron Paul.
Other suspicious findings include a chair lying on its side and other items that appeared to have been knocked off a table in the room where Sally's body was found.
No weapons were located in the house.
"We would walk our dog up that way and back, oftentimes right in front of their house and they would either be in their yard or sitting on their porch and we would say hi," said neighbor Brent Hodgkinson.
Paul believes the last time someone definitively saw the Francoms was between the middle and end of November.
"It was very surprising, very shocking," added Brent Hodgkinson. "Something like that doesn't happen next door to most people, if ever."
