Man, 51, and woman, 54, found shot dead at church altar in murder suicide
- Dead woman ran funeral home in San Antonio
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The bodies of a man and a woman were found shot dead by the altar of a Catholic church on Wednesday afternoon in what appears to be a murder suicide.
Police are still trying to piece together what exactly happened at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Helotes, Texas, but they believe Manuel Rodriguez, 51, shot and killed Zeferina Castillo, 54, before turning the gun on himself.
Neither were said to be parishioners at the church but were said to have been dating at one time.
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Murder suicide: The bodies of Zeferina Castillo and Manuel Rodriguez were found by the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Helotes
Police spokesman Anthony Burgess told the San Antonio Express: 'All we know is they were involved - apparently for a while. And what "a while" is, I can't really define that.'
Rodriguez is said to have shot Ms Castillo several times in the upper body before shooting himself in the head.
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ShareIt is not yet clear why they were in the church.
Mr Burgess said the pair arrived at the church separately in different cars and walked in together.
'There was no push, no grab, no tussle. It looked like they were just walking into church,' he said.
No interruption: Spokesman and deacon at the Helotes church Pat Rogers said the place of worship would be open for business as usual this weekend
Motion-sensitive CCTV cameras in the church recorded the man and woman walking toward the altar but stopped recording when the pair stood still, police lieutenant Elliott Rodriguez told the Houston Chronicle.
Several shots rang out around 3pm and when police investigated found the bodies at the baptismal font with a gun between them.
No one else was present.
Castillo was the president and owner of Castillo Mission Funeral Home on San Antonio's South Side which she took over after the death of her husband in 2007.
Manager of the funeral home Art Gandar said the staff there were devastated by the news.
'Her direction to us was that we utilize our hearts to provide dignified services for our families, and that's all she asked of us,' he said.
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