A man has died after being sought by police in the apparent homicide of his romantic partner, the Blue Earth County Sheriff's office said Monday afternoon.

Deputies are investigating the two deaths as a murder-suicide, Sheriff Jeff Wersal said Tuesday.

Gary Mark Rodewald, 64, was found unresponsive in his garage in New Ulm on Friday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff's office said. He died Sunday morning in a Minneapolis hospital, Wersal said.

Deputies had been searching for Rodewald after finding he had been in a relationship with Kristi Joy Gardner, a statement from the sheriff's office on Friday said.

Gardner, 57, was found dead Thursday evening. Deputies said they responded Thursday after a caller found Gardner unresponsive in a home in Lake Crystal, west of Mankato.

She died of gunshot wounds, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office determined. A provisional report lists the manner of death as homicide, a statement from the Sheriff's Office said.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is helping with the investigation.