Murder-suicides are more common in this part of Virginia than anywhere else in the state.
Three local domestic violence groups held a seminar about murder-suicides in Vinton on Thursday.
Experts talked about the psychology of suicide, how to prevent it, and how to deal with it.
Several law enforcement officers attended to learn how to better deal with notifying families about suicides.
“I think the hardest thing about dealing with families is not being able to give them all the answers they want,” suicide prevention specialist Bobbi Jo O'Neal said. “We may be able to give them the physical answers of what the cause of death was or the manner of death, but we can't always give the reason those decisions were made.”
There have been four murder- suicides in this area since August.
