The Lee County Sheriff's Office is treating the deaths of two Gateway community residents as a double homicide, an investigator said this afternoon.
Major Jeff Taylor said that he had hoped to release more specific information about the deaths this afternoon, but autopsies of Steven and Michelle Andrews, both 28 years old, had not been completed.
Taylor said that it's not uncommon for homicides to be committed by someone who knows the victims. But he declined to speculate whether that was true in this case.
He said he didn't want to limit the investigation to "one narrow pathway" at this point.
Taylor encouraged residents of Gateway neighborhoods to think back to the hours between 11 p.m. Monday night and 7 a.m. Tuesday morning and to please call the sheriff's office if they noticed anything unusual.
He said he considered Gateway, and all of Lee County, a safe community, but that residents should always secure their homes at night.
He dialed 911, and they could tell there was a child on the other line, LiMarzi said this morning. He wasnt saying much to dispatchers."
"When dispatchers received the call it was basically an 'open line.' The child was not having a conversation with the dispatcher, but was making enough noise that the dispatcher could tell that there was a child on the other end," she said. "Our equipment works on voice activation therefore silence is not recorded. Since the childs voice was so soft what you will basically hear is at the end of the call when the deputy takes the phone from the child and informs dispatch that she is on scene."
But the boy was still on the line when the first deputies arrived at the house and discovered the bodies.
Deputy Tracie Gaydash knocked on the door of the house. Luke opened the door, said "Mommy," and walked toward a stairway, according to sheriff's reports.
Gateway resident Lisa Potter took care of Luke for a few hours after the call was made and before he was given to other family members. She said Luke did not show signs of trauma when she took him home. Potter said she doesnt know if he could call 911 but said he did not appear to be potty-trained.
I changed his diaper, she said.
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