Chatham Couple dead in murder-suicide

An "infidelity" may have caused a man to fatally shoot a woman and then turn the gun on himself in a murder-suicide in the woman’s Chatham neighborhood home Tuesday.

The two were found dead at 1:24 p.m. Tuesday on the first floor of a home in the 7600 block of South Prairie Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala.

Responding officers found the woman’s body in bed with covers over it. When detectives arrived and looked under the covers, the man’s body was found, according to police who said both were shot.

Martha Byrd, 52, and Ralph Linder, 62, were found dead in Byrd’s home at 7603 S. Prairie Ave., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Linder, of 7555 S. Prairie Ave., died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a suicide. Byrd died from multiple injuries from an assault and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

A note found on the scene indicated the deaths occurred because of an “infidelity,’’ according to police, who said the man may have been the woman’s boyfriend.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.