On Thursday, a neighbor in the Villefranche-de-Rouergue hamlet of Les Pesquiès found the bodies of Andrew and Dawn Searle.. Five days after a British couple was discovered in their rural home in southwest France, French prosecutors have confirmed how they died.

It has now been established by post-mortem examinations that Mrs. Searle, 56, received “multiple blows to the head with a blunt and sharp-edged object” and Mr. Searle, 62, died by hanging.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the couple, who emigrated from Scotland to France, are still unknown, despite an update on the case from Rodez prosecutors.