PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Police said Wednesday they had no motive or suspects in the possible killings of a prominent retired Arizona doctor and his wife.
The bodies of 79-year-old Dr. Lawrence Shapiro, founder of Health Services Advisory Group, and his wife, Glenna, 77, were found in their Paradise Valley home by firefighters responding to smoke coming from the house.
Two separate fires had been set inside the residence, located in an upscale Phoenix suburb, and the bodies of the two victims were badly burned. Police said at a news conference they had launched an arson and homicide investigation, but currently had no leads.
The cause of death was not revealed and it was not known if the possibility of a murder-suicide had been ruled out.
Police did not officially release the identities of the victims; however, the Arizona Republic said a notice posted on the Shapiro family Web site said the couple's children were "shocked and saddened at the loss of our parents who were so loved by their family and community."
The newspaper said the Shapiros were indeed well known in Phoenix social circles. The couple was active in the Arizona Opera, Phoenix Symphony and other museum and charity organizations. Glenna Shapiro was on the opera board for some 15 years and was a past executive director of the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona.
Dr. Shapiro, who spent 45 years as a gastroenterologist, co-founded Health Services Advisory Group, a Phoenix company that became a leading healthcare quality improvement organization, the Republic said.
