Police investigate apparent murder-suicide at Atlantic Beach home

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Police from Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville are investigating the deaths of two people who were found dead of gunshot wounds Monday morning in a home at the corner of Garden Lane and Seminole Road, a few blocks south of Hanna Park.

Homicide investigators said the bodies were found by a family member who went to the home at about 11 a.m. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it appears their deaths were a murder-suicide.

Police won’t give any information about the victims, but neighbors identified the elderly couple that lives in the home as Tom and Joyce Mauldin, which News4Jax confirmed through property records. One person described them as a sweet couple, both in their 80s, adding they had lived in the house for decades.

Gail Goff said she saw them a few days before Christmas when she brought them a gift.

“Great neighbors. You can talk to each and everyone (in the neighborhood) and they will tell you they were always there if you needed them,” Goff said.

Goff said she has known the couple for 34 years said they were the perfect example of true love.

“Loving, supportive of one another," Goff said. “They were just an ideal couple. Everyone should pattern themselves after them.”