Investigators believe a 61-year-old Boulder man fatally shot his wife and son in their home before killing himself.

Philip F. Dileo, who worked as a Boulder police officer in the early 1970s before being fired for "multiple violations of department policy," is suspected in the "double homicide-suicide case," Boulder police said in a media release.

The bodies of Dileo; his wife, Elizabeth Schwarzenbach-Dileo, 63; and their son, Philip Christopher Dileo, 23, were found late Tuesday morning at the family home in the 2400 block of Bluff Street by a housekeeper.

Investigators believe the shootings took place about 24 hours earlier, late Monday morning, police said.

Two guns — a Ruger .22 semi-automatic handgun with a

Two women console each other outside the Boulder house where three bodies were found around noon Tuesday. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post )
silencer and .357 Magnum revolver — were recovered from the home, police said.

The Ruger was in the kitchen, where the body of Schwarzenbach-Dileo was found.

The Magnum revolver was found upstairs near Philip F. Dileo's body. Investigators are still tracing the ownership of the guns.

A note detailing Philip F. Dileo's desires for funeral arrangements was found in a spare bedroom. Police did not release a motive in the case or say whether a suicide note was found.

In 2005, Elizabeth Schwarzenbach-Dileo went to Boulder police to inquire about the legalities of buying a weapon to protect herself because her husband had threatened her, police said.

There are indications that Dileo also had previously threatened their son as well, police said.

Dileo worked as a Boulder police officer for two brief periods, from October 1972 to June 1973, and from October 1975 to November 1975, police said.