Residents at the Walton Fayetteville Apartments say they lived for nearly two weeks with a growing smell and unanswered questions before police discovered three people dead inside Building 6 in what investigators are calling a suspected murder-suicide.

According to the Fayetteville Police Department, officers were dispatched around 10:45 a.m. on October 25 to the complex on Favor Road for a welfare check. They found three deceased individuals. 

Names and details have not been officially released at this time, but The Citizen spoke to a neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. 

According to the neighbor, the third-floor unit had a woman in her 60s and her adult daughter in her 30s living there. Also seen often was the daughter’s adult boyfriend. The neighbor conjectured that the deaths appear to have occurred nearly two weeks earlier.

This resident in Building 6 told The Citizen that she and her neighbors first heard what sounded like a gunshot around 1 a.m. on October 13 or 14.

“I remember hearing that gunshot… at 1 a.m.,” the resident said. “My neighbor emailed the leasing office saying that she heard a gunshot, and they said they called the woman [in the apartment] and she answered the phone—which was a lie.” She added that within days, their neighbor “is starting to smell things.”

Over the following days, the smell intensified.

“It started to smell really bad all of a sudden,” the resident said. “It smelled like roast beef or like someone left meat out for days, and it just kept getting worse and worse.” 

Our source said that it particularly bothered the neighbor who shared a long wall with the unit in question, “She thought she was going crazy. She thought it was a dead rat. It’s almost like a Jeffrey Dahmer situation, where the woman’s complaining about the smell.”

The resident said the leasing office did not give residents information about what was happening.

“They sent a thing out the next day and said that some incident happened, and they lied on it. They all said it was just a resident with two guests, and that’s not true,” the resident said. “No one here is giving us answers.”

According to the resident, the three people who lived in the apartment were “an older black woman in her 60s, her daughter, and recently the daughter’s boyfriend that had been coming around for the past few months.” The resident said that she “always said hi to them.”

“I always saw her with the man,” the resident said. She added that the man always gave her a strange vibe, “That man was weird.” 

“They also had a dog and two cats, and the cats and dog were still alive in that apartment building.”

The bodies were discovered on October 25 after a family member from South Carolina requested a welfare check—approximately 13 days after the suspected gunshot was first heard. The Citizen’s source took photos as the coroner loaded them into a white van on site. 

“They pulled three bodies out of the apartment,” the resident said. “It’s been awful. Everyone is walking around on eggshells. I’m scared to sleep in my apartment with everything.”

Walton Communities, which manages the complex, said in an email to residents that biohazard cleanup was cleared by police and completed by October 29.

“We have received clearance from the police to begin biohazard cleanup, which will be completed by the end of the day today,” wrote Community Manager Lara Flanders. “The biohazard company has confirmed that the cleanup does not pose a safety concern for surrounding apartments.”

Flanders said Walton Communities is also providing counseling resources and exploring a visit from Fayetteville Police to discuss safety and awareness.

“This was an isolated incident, and while extremely sad, we recognize that crime can happen anywhere,” she wrote. “We remain committed to supporting our residents and maintaining a safe community.”

Police continue to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Harrison at [email protected].