A young Pennsylvania couple who were high school sweethearts are both dead in a murder-suicide carried out by the husband less than two years after they tied the knot, police said.

Ryan Hosso, 26, gunned down his physician assistant wife, 25-year-old Madeline Spatafore, inside their Butler, Pa. home early Tuesday before cowardly retreating into nearby woods where he turned the gun on himself, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

A smiling man with a beard and a smiling woman with dark hair stand close together, with a sunset over the ocean in the background.
Ryan Hosso, 26, shot and killed his wife, 25-year-old Madeline Spatafore, then committed suicide.Facebook

Silhouette of armed SWAT officers at night.
Hosso called his parents and confessed to killing Spatafore before he killed himself.WPXI
Hosso called his parents at some point between Spatafore’s murder and his suicide. During the brief call, he confessed to killing Spatafore, his high school sweetheart, and threatened to take his own life, cops said.

Hosso’s parents reported their son’s erratic behavior to authorities around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday.

When officers responded to the scene, they found Spatafore dead inside the home. Police then used thermal drones to locate Hosso’s body in the woods, the Cranberry Eagle reported.

Spatafore sustained “multiple gunshot wounds,” while Hosso only had one fatal injury, police said.

A man in a black puffer jacket and a woman in a white turtleneck and plaid shirt standing in a snowy parking lot.
Hosso and Spatafore started dating in high school.Facebook

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The couple tied the knot in Ohio in September 2024, according to their wedding registry.

They both graduated from Seneca Valley High School in Harmony, Pennsylvania — just 10 miles outside of their home in Seven Fields, a borough of Butler.

Spatafore graduated from high school in 2019 and then attended Duquesne University. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in health services in 2023.

Woman with long brown hair smiling.
Spatafore worked as a critical care physician assistant at a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Facebook

A young man in a suit and a young woman in a sparkly dress posing in front of a decorated door.
The high school sweethearts got married in September 2024.Facebook
She was employed as a critical care physician assistant at UPMC Presbyterian at the time of her death, according to her LinkedIn.

It’s unclear if or where Hosso went to college. He previously worked as a mechanical engineer at Vavco, a Pittsburgh-based engineering firm for the oil and gas industry, according to his LinkedIn.

The owner of Vavco told WPXI that Hasso hasn’t worked for the company in three or four years.

Police have not released a motive in the harrowing shooting. An investigation is ongoing.