What began as one police agency assisting another with finding a missing person took a bizarre twist Tuesday. Both the missing person and the suspect were dead in two different states, leaving investigators to piece together what happened.

An Alabama sheriff’s office notified the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office about a missing woman, believed to be possibly in the Canton area, according to Lt. Jay Baker. Early Tuesday, deputies located the woman’s Jeep outside a mobile home, Baker said.

But before deputies could talk to the man inside the home, he shot and killed himself, according to police.

“While deputies were searching for the missing woman, a bedroom door slammed and a gun was fired from inside the room,” Baker said in an emailed statement. “Deputies opened the door and discovered Max Zeller, 22, of Alabama, alone in the room with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his mouth.”

Zeller, formerly of Canton, died from his injuries after being transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, Baker said.

Hours later, the missing woman was found dead in Alabama of an apparent homicide, according to police. Felicia Lindsey, 54, was Zeller’s aunt, police said.

Details regarding Lindsey’s death were not available late Tuesday from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama. Zeller had been a suspect in the woman’s disappearance, according to police.