Former state Sen. Nancy Schaefer, husband die

, a former state senator and vocal pro-life advocate, and her husband Bruce were found dead earlier this afternoon at their Habersham County home.

State Rep. Rick Austin, R-Demorest, announced the news from the House well just past 7 p.m. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman tells the AJC that the Schaefers apparently did not die from natural causes. Political writer Tom Baxter tweets that GBI says “preliminary indication” is the deaths are the results of a murder-suicide. A GBI spokesman tells CL that two crime scene specialists and six investigators are on the scene and will work throughout the night. Habersham County Sherif Joey Terrell is expected to release a statement Saturday morning.

Schaefer, one of the state’s most vocal advocates for pro-life and conservative causes, once planned to run against U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, but dropped out of the race to care for her husband, whom she said was ill. In the 1990s, she ran for Atlanta mayor and Georgia governor. She founded Family Concerns, an organization that opposed abortion. Most recently, Schaefer was director of Eagle Forum of Georgia, an advocacy organization that aims to “provide the avenue for conservative, pro-life and pro-family citizens/volunteers to actively become involved in the process of self-government and public policy.”

According to an online real estate listing, a Habersham County home with an address that matches the Eagle Forum of Georgia’s has been on the market for two-and-a-half months. The original asking price was $1.2 million. It’s now listed at $1 million.

This post has been altered to reflect the most recent information available.