A newly married couple found deceased in a car in Harvard in October died by murder-suicide, with the husband found to have pulled the trigger, authorities said Thursday.

“Based on the ongoing joint investigation and the findings of the McHenry County Coroner’s Office, the incident is being deemed a homicide-suicide. The investigation indicates that Brandon Dumovich fatally shot Rachel Dumovich before taking his own life,” a release from Harvard police said.

The Dumovichs – who lived in Sharon, Wisconsin, but met as middler schoolers in Crystal Lake –were found around midnight on Oct. 6 in the 700 block of North Division Street in Harvard with gunshot wounds to the head, according to the McHenry County Coroner’s Office.

Rachel Dumovich was 29 and her husband had just turned 30 a day before they were found dead. The couple were married on Oct. 12 last year, dying just shy of their one-year anniversary.

“While the investigation remains active as investigators finalize their review of all evidence and reports, this has been determined to be an isolated incident, and there is no indication of any ongoing threat to the community,” Harvard Police Chief Tyson Bauman said in the release.

Harvard police said an officer had spotted the couple’s vehicle parked along North Division Street-Route 14 with its hazard lights activated. The officer approached and discovered a woman in the driver’s seat and a man in the passenger seat, both shot.

The families of each posted separate obituaries. Neither obituary acknowledged the other or referred to them as a married couple.

Rachel Noel Dumovich, formerly Rachel Reimann, was a 2014 graduate of Crystal Lake South High School, where she was a two-sport varsity athlete in cheerleading and track, according to her obituary.

The obituary said she was “known for her drive, ambition and passion. Rachel was a natural connector, advocate and loyal friend. She had a strong sense of empathy, compassion, social justice and fair play, always championing those who needed a voice. With her exuberant spirit, quick wit, and unfiltered humor she brought energy and laughter to every room she entered.”

Online records indicate Brandon Dumovich had attended Crystal Lake Central High School. His obituary describes him as someone who “brought light and laughter into the lives of those around him from the very beginning.”

He served as a petty officer in the U.S. Navy, reflecting “his deep commitment to service and his enduring passion for helping others – a quality that remained central throughout his life,” according to the obituary.

Various websites indicate the couple married in Wisconsin last October. In a YouTube wedding video linked from Rachel Dumovich’s Facebook page, the couple talks about meeting when they both attended Lundahl Middle School in Crystal Lake.

On the Domovichs’ page on The Knot wedding website, the couple refer to themselves as “middle school sweethearts.” Rachel wrote that she and Brandon met when she was 12.

“I caught Brandon’s attention by stealing cologne from his locker and running away with it,” she wrote. “After keeping in touch through many life stages and 15 years of friendship, we started dating in 2022.”

She said Brandon proposed to her in Summer 2024 on Big Cedar Lake in Slinger, Wisconsin, and the couple married at the same location Oct. 12, 2024, where Rachel wrote she made many of her favorite childhood memories.