BOOTHBAY HARBOR — A day after the peace of two quiet neighborhoods in Boothbay Harbor was shattered by tragedy when police discovered the bodies of three members of the same family, people who knew them said they were shocked and mystified by the news.

“They’re just a wonderful family. Nobody can believe this at all,” said Susan Foss, who lived across the street from one of the houses where a body was found. “It’s just unfathomable.”

The rambling red-shingled house at 46 Montgomery Road, across the street from Foss, was guarded Sunday afternoon by a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy. She said that Eric Jorgensen lived there, and his parents, Svend and Carol Jorgensen, lived at the 236 Lakeside Drive home that also was blocked by a police car over the weekend. Police confirmed in a news release issued Sunday afternoon that Svend Jorgensen, 71, and Carol, 75, were found dead in their home, and Eric Jorgensen, 40, was found dead in his home.

Police found the bodies Saturday after being asked to conduct a well-being check at the Lakeside Drive home.

According to Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland, no one was involved other than the three people who were found dead. Few details were forthcoming Sunday. In the release issued Sunday afternoon, McCausland said police were gathering evidence at both scenes and would likely continue to do so Monday. Autopsies began Sunday at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta, according to the release, and would continue into Monday.

Foss, who was working in her yard, said that she has known the family for decades and has known Eric Jorgensen since he was a small child. His father, Svend, had been born in Denmark and had worked as an engineer at Bath Iron Works before retirement, she said. Carol Jorgensen had worked at the Portland International Jetport. Their son, Eric, worked at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland, Foss said, and the high school’s website listed him as a social studies teacher.

In May, Eric Jorgensen moved from Portland to Boothbay Harbor, into the house that had belonged to his grandmother Gladys Pratt. She died last year, Foss said, adding that the younger Jorgensen commuted to work until the end of the school year. Another brother lives in the Freeport area and works on tanker ships, she said.

Flags from Maine and Denmark waved in the breeze above the Montgomery Road house where Eric Jorgensen lived, and a blue Ford station wagon was parked in the driveway. A hanging basket of bright flowers adorned the porch, and a sign by the driveway identified the house as “Peony Farm.”

Foss said that she had spent a lot of time with the Jorgensen family over the years, and was stunned when her son called her Saturday to say that something was going on across the street, after he saw the emergency vehicles parked there. She said she didn’t think that Eric Jorgensen’s car had been moved in some time.

“You couldn’t even imagine that anything like this could happen,” she said.

Two and a half miles away, past houses decked with patriotic bunting, a police cruiser from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office guarded the end of the long, secluded driveway on Lakeside Drive that leads to Svend and Carol Jorgensen’s home.

A next-door neighbor who didn’t want to give her name said that the Jorgensens were “lovely, lovely, lovely people.”

She described the neighborhood as “very quiet, where we all value our privacy.”

Another neighbor, Michael Barter, said that he and his family were camping when they saw on Facebook that something bad was happening across the street. Barter said that he didn’t know the Jorgensens very well, but would wave at them when they met on the road.

“Hopefully they find out what happened,” he said.

According to the Maine State Police, the bodies were taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta for autopsies that were scheduled to begin Sunday.

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