Elderly couple die
following recent incident in Chapman
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
CHAPMAN — An elderly couple are dead in what Maine State Police are classifying as a case of murder-suicide that occurred at a residence on the East Chapman Road.
“Around 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, March 7, a member of the family called 9-1-1 to report the incident. Members of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office and Maine Warden Service arrived and found a male deceased in the basement and a female severely injured,” said Lt. Christopher Coleman, troop commander of the MSP Crime Unit.
Coleman said the woman was transported by Crown Ambulance to The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle, where she died a short time later.
“The victims are Marcus Sykora, 81, and his 77-year-old wife, Sheila Sykora,” said Coleman.
The two had recently moved to Chapman from Missouri to stay with their daughter, Sylvia Buob, at her home on the Chapman Road. Coleman said the bodies were transported to Augusta on Friday where autopsies were performed by the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
State police say the shooting deaths of the couple was a case of domestic violence murder-suicide. Investigators were on scene late into the day on Thursday as they tried to determine what happened.
“After reviewing the results of the autopsy, with additional information provided by detectives, the State Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the case a murder-suicide and determined that both died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Detectives say Marcus Sykora shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself,” said Steve McCausland, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
McCausland said other family members were home at the time of the incident but were unharmed.
“The daughter, Sylvia Buob, was in another section of the house when the shootings took place. She heard the gunshots, went to her parents’ apartment and then called 9-1-1,” McCausland said.
According to McCausland, “the couple had a number of medical issues and had moved to Chapman to live with their daughter in recent months, after living with their son in Kansas City, Mo.”
Police did not indicate who owned the gun.
