A man and woman were found dead overnight in Pointe-aux-Trembles in what Montreal police (SPVM) are calling a murder-suicide.

Police say they were called around midnight to a three-storey apartment building on 25th Avenue in the city's east end, near the intersection with Notre Dame Street East, where the bodies of the two people, both 45 years old, were found in a fire escape stairway. 

The woman's body "bore signs of violence," and "everything indicates that the man took his own life," said Caroline Chèvrefils, a spokesperson for the SPVM.

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Their deaths were pronounced at the scene. 

The woman lived in the building where she was found, but on Tuesday morning police said the circumstances of the killing, as well as the relationship between the man and woman, are still unknown. 

Chèvrefils said major crime investigators are going door-to-door to speak to potential witnesses.

The woman's killing is the 40th in Montreal this year. There were 36 homicides in Montreal in 2021 and the last time the city saw more than 40 killings in one year was in 2007, when there were 42 homicides.