Authorities in the Des Moines area are investigating the deaths of a husband and wife as an apparent murder-suicide. Laura Wharff didn’t show up to work on Wednesday at Iowa Health Systems and police were asked to check on her at her home in Altoona.
Mid-afternoon, police entered the home and found the bodies of Wharff and her husband, Mark. Both were 51. Both reportedly died of gunshot wounds and there was no sign of forced entry. The state D.C.I. is investigating.