Blood From The Ceiling Helps Police Uncover Apparent Murder-Suicide Of Sally And Nicholas Mantzouranis

It was a scene from a real-life horror movie when a woman saw a “red substance” dripping from her ceiling, and the Sun Sentinel reports that substance turned out to be blood and uncovered an apparent murder-suicide in southern Florida on Sunday.

The apartment complex management called the paramedics for a welfare check after the report but after receiving no response, the police were called, entering the apartment after firefighters had removed the door. The police found 66-year-old Sally Mantzouranis and 84-year-old Nicholas Mantzouranis both with gunshot wounds to the head. Sally was in bed, while Nicholas was found on the floor, with a gun near his hand, leaving the police with little room to question what happened but, of course, they are not taking anything for granted.

“Detectives are still actively investigating this incident, but believe there is no danger to the public at this time,” said Lt. Joseph Galaska, a spokesman for the Margate Police Department, to the Sun Sentinel.

Nicholas Mantzouranis was described as “frail” by neighbors but was still active in the community, running a grocery cart at the base of the stairs in the apartment complex.

The effects of the crime were not just seen downstairs with another neighbor claiming to have found a bullet in his apartment after returning from a concert in Fort Lauderdale but had no idea what had happened until seeing the police on Sunday.

Fox News reports that several calls were made to the police when the shots were initially fired, but there was obviously no response from the police until the follow-up welfare check was made on Sunday.

As is often the case in these scenarios, the couple was described as being quiet, with neighbors saying they did not appear to have many visitors.

A neighbor, Dylan Eggleston, had been wondering what was going on in his neighbor’s apartment, coming outside during the commotion, with crime-scene investigators going into both the Mantzouranis’ apartment and the one next door, where the bullet was found.

The neighbor who raised the initial alarm has not been named, but she has mentioned that the whole scenario has left her worried, and has no doubt led to plenty of extra attention to herself and the whole apartment complex.

While the case is apparently a murder-suicide, the police are not closing the book and have called for anyone with information to call the Margate Police Department on 954-972-7111.