UPDATE - Monday 8/15/2016

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office has released the names of a woman and her husband who died in Napoleon Township as the result of a murder-suicide.

Margaret Jean Sanford, 73, has been identified as the woman who died at a home in the 5500 block of Clarklake Road. She had not been seen for several days, and police were doing a welfare check. When police arrived they saw a woman in the home who was not moving.

A man was seen in the house, but wouldn't come to the door or respond to officers. He was later identified as Roger Sanford, a 62-year-old man. Sanford was known by law enforcement from previous incidents and had a history of mental illness and was known to be in possession of firearms. The joint city-county strategic response team was activated to help with the situation.

After an extended period of time, during which repeated efforts were made to communicate with Sanford, police entered the home and found that both Roger Sanford and Margaret Sanford were dead. Margaret appeared to have been deceased for several days, and Roger had taken his own life during the standoff.

The investigation into this incident is ongoing. Stay with WILX.com and News 10 for updates as more information becomes available.

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The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is continuing it's investigation in the death of an elderly woman in Napoleon Township.

The Township Police were the first to arrive to the home in the 5500 Clark Lake Road Friday.

Neighbors had called for a welfare check after they hadn't seen the woman for several days.

Sheriff Steve Rand tells News Ten his Deputies arrived to the scene around 7:30 p.m. And he explained, "They could see inside the residence that there was a female subject lying on the floor and not moving. The male subject also living in the residence refused to respond to the door to allow us in to check the welfare of the female."

The Sheriff says the male was known to have some mental health issues and also known to carry a gun and has been violent in the past.

For those reasons, Sheriff Rand says the Strategic Response Team was called in to assist.

They were then engaged in a standoff for several hours, before police could get into the residence.

The Sheriff tells us when police gained entry into the home, his Deputies found the man had killed himself and the woman had been dead for some time.

He says it appears both of them died from gunshot wounds.

At this point, they are investigating the incident as a murder-suicide, as they await the results of both autopsies.

Their names are not being released at this time.

We'll be tracking this story for you.