YORK COUNTY, Pa. — York County records two or three murder-suicides per year on average, but with more than three months to go in 2023, the county has already surpassed that mark.
York County has faced five tragedies in just nine months. The county has seen more murder-suicides in 2023 than in any other year.
"This is the worst year we've had, as far as I can tell, on record," said Pam Gay, the York County coroner.
Gay told FOX43 that she has never dealt with this many murder-suicides in her ten years as coroner of York County.
The two deadly incidents earlier this month happened less than 24 hours apart.
"We've had two within a short period of time of each other, but never back-to-back. Some people have asked me, 'Is that a copycat thing?' No, not really," she said. "I think they were individual situations that were going on at the same time."
Gay said those incidents fit the unfortunate trend in murder-suicides happening across the country; a female victim is killed by her current or former partner before the male takes his own life.
She said women experiencing a breakup or going through a custody battle are often most at risk and suggests families be vigilant.
"Checking in on them, possibly getting police involved or the courts as much as possible," Gay said. "Even that, obviously, is not always a guarantee that the person is going to be protected."
In the most recent incident in Dover, investigators say the female victim had a protection from abuse order against her eventual killer.
Gay said community members should be aware of any signs of abuse and shouldn't be afraid to speak up.
"You look for physical injuries, you look for the person isolating themselves," she said. "I think there's still some things that we can do as a society to try and watch out for each other."
Gay said the most difficult part of her job is knowing when children are affected by these crimes. She said responding to these incidents is hard on her office, hard on first responders, and hard on the community and families involved.