BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A 106-year-old widow and her 30-year-old male caretaker and companion died together in an apparent suicide pact at the home they shared in San Francisco, police said.

    Their landlord's brother-in-law found the bodies of Helen Godet and her caretaker of nine years, David Lund, on Friday when he came to collect the rent.

    Two suicide notes dated Dec. 27 were also found, indicating that Lund strangled the woman, after she decided she could not take her own life, police said Monday. Lund then swallowed a fatal dose of antifreeze, according to police.

    "There are indications that it was going to be a double suicide, but she couldn't force herself to drink the poison, so he killed her and then drank the poison," said Dennis Maffei, a San Francisco police inspector.

     Lund, a native of the Philippines, met Godet nine years ago and acted as her caretaker ever since. Godet had no one else; her husband was dead, and the couple never had children. Lund slept on the sofa in Godet's house.

    "The two of them had a very long relationship and cared mutually for each other," said Sima Dahi of San Francisco's Meals on Wheels program, which provided Godet with a bag lunch and dinner regularly.  "He was very, very caring. . . . He took her everywhere."

    According to Dahi, there had been no indication that anything was going wrong before the suicide. "Everyone here is very, very upset and heartbroken," Dahi said. "It's a very sad story -- for us, it's just beginning to sink in." Enditem

    (Agencies)