2 found dead in ransacked S. Philly apartment

A 50-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were found dead inside their South Philadelphia apartment late Sunday night, according to police.

The victims, Candido Gonzalez and his girlfriend, Caitlyn Jaje, were found about 11:40 p.m. Sunday inside a first-floor apartment on the 1300 block of Federal Street, police said.

Homicide Capt. John Ryan said that one of the victims' mothers discovered the couple unresponsive when she came down from an apartment unit upstairs. He declined to say how the couple died. Chief Inspector Scott Small told television news reporters that the couple was bruised and lying in pools of blood, and that the apartment had been ransacked.

Medics pronounced Gonzalez and Jaje at 11:53 p.m., police said.

Gonzalez's niece, Kacia Gonzalez, said Monday that Candido Gonzalez had a 9-year-old son. She also said that Gonzalez's brother, Edward, was murdered on the steps of the same house in 2005.

Kacia Gonzalez said her uncle had been sober for several years and would often speak at recovery meetings. His family was in shock to learn of his death, she said.