By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

Workers from the Butler County Coroner's Office remove a body from the home of Don and Helen Riley in the 1300 block of Harmon Avenue in Hamilton on Tuesday. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

HAMILTON - What appeared to be a double homicide early in the day Tuesday may have become a triple homicide after a third body was found Tuesday evening.

A couple was found slain in their Harmon Avenue home in the city's Five Points area early Tuesday. About 9:45 p.m., police said they had found a third body at a residence on a nearby street.

Police said the homicides may be related and that they had a suspect in custody.

No other details were immediately available.

The bodies of Donald Riley, 44, and Helen Riley, 55, were found by Hamilton police early Tuesday morning after police received a 12:30 a.m. call from Helen Riley's daughter, who lives out of state.

She was worried because family members had not heard from their mother in two days, according to a police tape.

Helen Riley, photo taken from video

"This isn't like my mother,'' the woman said on the tape. "I'm just a little bit worried."

After getting no response from the residence, police entered the house and found the bodies, said Public Affairs Officer Dave Crawford.

"These deaths are obviously the result of foul play," Butler County Coroner Richard Burkhardt said Tuesday in a statement. An autopsy was to be performed today.

Neighbors and relatives kept a close watch Tuesday morning on the single-story home marked by yellow tape as police and other officials began their investigation.

"We're shocked," said neighbor Mazlene Hicks, who has lived next door to the Rileys since they moved there about five years ago.

"They're just nice people - good people - who never bothered anybody."

Mike Hicks, who lives across the street from the Rileys and his parents, said his wife talked with Helen Riley on the phone between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday.

On Monday morning he went over to shovel the Rileys' sidewalk and didn't see the couple, which he found unusual.

"Helen was one who kept an eye on the neighborhood," Hicks said.

He said he didn't hear or see anything unusual Sunday or Monday and was surprised to learn his neighbors had been killed.

"She always opens the blinds as soon as she gets up, but they weren't up Monday," Mike Hicks said. "I thought she went to see her mother in Kentucky who's been ill."

Steven G. White, who lives on Shuler behind the Rileys, described the friends he called "mom and dad" as kind-hearted.

"She's a church-going woman," White said. "They were the kind of people that help people."

Janice Morse contributed to this story.

E-mail suek@infi.net.