Coroner: Death Of Elderly Couple Ruled Murder-Suicide

The last time 92-year-old Middletown resident Charles Hoez was seen alive was at about 1 p.m. Sunday. A witness reported seeing him position his older model minivan near the window of the bedroom he shared with his wife, 90-year-old Jeanne, who was suffering from advanced Alzheimer's.

It is believed Charles then connected one end of a hose to the minivan’s exhaust pipe and placed the other end through the window into the bedroom he shared with his wife. The World War II veteran stuffed the remaining open space of the window with towels, authorities said.

The next morning, the Hoez’s son, who visited his parents often, knocked on the door to their two-story Center Street home -- no response. He then got a neighbor, who had a key to the couples home. When he entered he discovered his parents lying in bed -- , authorities reported.

The couples death has been ruled a murder-suicide and the cause of death was ruled as an intentional carbon-monoxide poisoning, Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said.

Campbell said he believes Charles Hoez, who suffered his own share of medical issues, killed himself and his wife because he could not provide the level of care that was needed.

An autopsy revealed the couple most likely died Sunday afternoon shortly after the home filled with poisonous carbon-monoxide gas, Campbell said.

When police discovered the minivan Monday morning it had run out of gas.

Two notes were also found by police, but Campbell said he could not elaborate on what they stated.

A resident of Center Street, who did not wish to be named, said Monday she was shocked and saddened when she heard that her elderly neighbors were found dead.

The Hoez’s death is the second murder-suicide in Bucks County in the past several months. In the summer, an elderly man shot his wife and then himself in Richland, Campbell said.

"We are seeing an increase in suicide among the elderly," Campbell told Patch.

Suicide.org has an information page with more on elderly suicide.