Police: Two men, one woman dead in apparent homicide

Members at the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church say Sunday will be their church’s hardest day.

Two members, a man and woman whose names police have not released as of 7 p.m. Monday, will be missing. They were found dead in a home on the 2200 block of Groton Road just outside of Pocomoke City.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” says member Tory Pinder. “Like, out of all people…you know? That’s why you never know when your last day is. You never know when your last breath is and.”

According to the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were called to perform a welfare check of a woman Pinder says was her distant cousin late Monday morning.

Lieutenant Ed Schreier, a public information officer with the sheriff’s office, says when they arrived at the home, they came in contact with a man through the door.

“He was very hard to understand, he was behind closed doors, they couldn’t really understand him or speak with him,” says Lieutenant Schreier.

Police eventually made their way in, discovered the two bodies and left to get a warrant according to Schreier.

After several unsuccessful attempts to make contact again with the man who came to the door, we’re told a tactical team used gas to try to force him out which ignited a fire.

Fire crews put out the fire and investigators went inside the home, where they found the man at the door dead.

“We don’t know if it’s a homicide-suicide at this point, we’re still looking at that avenue,” Schreier tells 47ABC.

Jimmy Reid, Pinder’s father, described the man and woman found first in the home as involved church-goers.

Reid tells 47ABC he last spoke to the woman on Wednesday and ‘knew something was up’ when they did not show up to church.

“Everybody started texting to see what was going on, because they were in charge of the food that day and when nobody heard anything, we started getting concerned,” recalls Reid.

His family did not stop by to check on the family because they were rushing to return to Salisbury, according to Reid; however, he says the loss will be felt throughout the church.

“They were a part of the church, the church was their life as it is with all of us,” says Reid.

Authorities say all three bodies will be transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s office in Baltimore for autopsies.

We are told the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit is the lead agency in this case.