In Florida, a teacher was discovered dead next to her boyfriend, leaving her young daughter in her cot screaming.
According to the Port St. Lucie Police Department, Amanda Hicks, 26, was found dead on Saturday, May 27, having apparently been the victim of a murder-suicide.
A family member requested a welfare check on Hicks and her partner, and police were called to the couple’s residence in the city in southeast Florida.
The Hicks’ infant daughter’s cries could be heard from outside the house when they arrived, despite the doors being closed and no one home.
Concerned officers then peered through a rear sliding-glass door, where they saw two adults who appeared dead.
The officers then ‘forced their way through the locked front door and took the unharmed, crying infant from their crib,’ the Port St Lucie Police Department said.
The baby, later identified by family members as Hicks’ 10-month-old daughter Alani, is now safe with a family member, the police said.
‘It appears at this time, an adult female was killed by an adult male who then took his own life,’ the police said. ‘Detectives believe the two adults were romantically involved.’
Investigators have not yet revealed how the couple were killed.
Neither Hicks nor her boyfriend have been named by authorities, but a spokesperson for Martin County School District where she taught sixth grade confirmed her death.
‘Additional information about memorials and opportunities for supporting Amanda’s beautiful little girl will be forthcoming,’ said Darcia Borel, the principal at Dr David L Anderson Middle School, in an email sent out to faculty.
‘Please remember to hug your loved ones a little tighter and keep Amanda’s family in your thoughts and hearts.’
Neighbors at their apartment complex told CBS 12 News the couple ‘seemed very normal, very normal.’
They had reportedly just moved to the home only three weeks ago.