Police investigate double suicide at Northeast motel

PHILADELPHIA, PA (WTXF) - In Northeast Philadelphia, police are looking into what they're calling a double suicide at a hotel.

Police found two women with plastic bags over their heads, and their hands tied behind their back.

We're now hearing from neighbors about problems at the hotel.

FOX 29's Jennifer Joyce reported live at Philadelphia Police Headquarters with more from investigators, Monday afternoon.

Police responded to the Roosevelt Motor Inn on the Roosevelt Boulevard just before 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

That's when they found two women in their 30s, lying dead on a hotel room bed. Investigators say there was no sign of a struggle, based on clear surveillance images, no one entered the room overnight.

Police are ruling this case as a double suicide.

The women were fully clothed. They had plastic bags over their heads; plastic covering their mouths, one female had both hands tied behind her the other was tied with one hand and one hand free.

Homicide Captain James Clark says this is an extremely rare case, one they didn't believe at first.

"I've been in Homicide 9 years and I've never seen a suicide pact where 2 individuals orchestrate this and help each other commit suicide," Clark said.

Clark says the women were in a relationship with one another. They're both nurses from West Virginia. They came to Philly a couple of weeks ago.

"They came here to find work and when they could not their lives spiraled out of control from that point," Clark said.

Police say the women were both on drugs at the time of their deaths but they died from asphyxiation. Sadly, people who live in the neighborhood weren't surprised by the news. They say they see a lot of strange activity at this hotel.

"I just thought "not again" - the crime over there is terrible" an anonymous person told FOX 29.

"If you look along the fence sometimes you see needles condoms crack voles," an anonymous person told FOX 29.

. The victims' ages have not been released either.

No arrests had been made.