LUDLOW, Ky.
- The discovery Sunday of two decomposing bodies in an apartment might still be a double suicide, but investigators have learned that the dead man was considered armed and dangerous by authorities in California.
Based on tattoos and other records, Ludlow police have identified the man as Robert Lawrence Harmon, 48, who was wanted by police in Sacramento for a 1996 alleged assault involving a semiautomatic rifle. Initially, he was thought to be Robert Lay, and officers assumed he was the husband of the dead woman, 59-year-old Marjorie Lay.
But after more work on the case Monday, police learned the man's real identity. He also went by an alias, Timothy Steinmetz, said Police Chief Tom Collins. He would not describe the tattoos.
The bodies were found Sunday afternoon after a neighbor checked on the couple in their Alberta Street home. Police think they have been dead at least three or four weeks, the chief said. They can pinpoint that they were alive around Oct. 8 or 9 because they got new medication then, he said.
''Beyond that, we just don't know,'' Chief Collins said. ''All we know is they were companions and living together.''
Investigators found a lot of medication in the house, including Vicodin, a painkiller, and Xanax, an anti-depressant, he said, along with a note. Ms. Lay apparently suffered from diabetes, and Mr. Harmon had suffered a stroke. They had lived there three or four months.
''The note was just kind of saying that they were sorry,'' the chief said.
Investigators are trying to determine Mr. Harmon's recent past and how he came to live in Ludlow. He has been in trouble several times, Chief Collins said, involving charges of burglary, armed robbery, having sex with a minor, illegal flight to avoid prosecution and assault to commit murder.
