The latest local news, weather and high school sports in and around Columbia and Jefferson City

ASBURY, MO. (AP) -- A southwest Missouri sheriff says the deaths of a husband and wife in a home north of Joplin appear to have been a murder-suicide.

Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser says the bodies were found Tuesday after a family member flagged down a deputy. The relative was concerned after not seeing the couple for some time.

Kaiser said Wednesday that officers entered the home near the small town of Asbury and found a man and woman, both in their 50s and both with single gunshots to the head.

The sheriff says it appears the man shot and killed his wife before taking his own life.

Autopsies were scheduled for Thursday.

(Copyright ©2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)