Spanish police are investigating the deaths of three Dutch nationals found in a house near Coín in the province of Málaga on Wednesday, local Spanish paper Diario Sur reports.

The bodies of a man of 62, his 59-year-old wife and her mother aged 89, were discovered by the son of the man who had rented the property to the family. He had not heard from them for some time.

According to the paper, the man was found hanged, but an autopsy will have to show how the women died. All three bodies were in an advanced stage of decomposition.

Reportedly, the wife had terminal cancer and police are working on the assumption that the three may have decided to commit suicide together. It is also thought to be possible that the man killed the two women before killing himself.

No suicide notes were found although, police said, the family’s papers were are all left in order and there was a written inventory of personal belongings.

The news of the deaths has shocked the local town, Sur writes. The family had lived in the rural area to the north of Coín for the last six years and kept themselves to themselves.

Nevertheless, the townspeople are upset that nobody noticed that they had not been seen for days, the paper writes.