Murder-Suicide Suspected in Deaths of 2 : Crime: The man and woman found slain Thursday were employees of a dental company. Police believe he shot her, then turned the gun on himself.

A man and woman found shot to death in a Newport Boulevard motel room were identified Friday as a Brea dentist and a dental insurance processor.

Investigators said they believe that Dr. Rodney Gastro Dacio, 31, fatally shot Alma Rosio Bustamante, 19, of Santa Ana then turned the gun on himself, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Tom Lazar said.

Police did not have a motive. They are interviewing both victims’ relatives, including their spouses, Lazar said.

“We are trying to clean up the relationship and what was going on there so we can have a full story,” Lazar said.

Police were called to the Hacienda Travelodge in the 1900 block of Newport Boulevard about 1:50 p.m. Thursday.

The couple had checked into the room just before noon Wednesday, and the motel manager became curious when they failed to check out, Lazar said. A maid sent to the room found the bodies.

Bustamante, who worked for the Western Dental Center Costa Mesa office, had been shot many times, Lazar said. Dacio, who practiced for the same company in its Buena Park office, had been shot once. A gun was found at the scene, police said.

Police said they were puzzled by the absence of a note or any sign of a fight.

Dr. Thomas Maddocks, who worked with both Dacio and Bustamante periodically over the past 2 1/2 years, said that co-workers are shocked by the deaths.

“Our heads are still spinning,” Maddocks said. “We’re working our way through this.”

Maddocks said he did not know what the relationship between Dacio and Bustamante was. The two had worked together for three months at the Santa Ana Western Dental branch.

“All I can say for sure is that they worked together in the past, but as far as a relationship, I can’t confirm anything on that.”

Western Dental, he said, “is acutely aware of any problems that occur with on-the-job romances,” Maddocks said. “That type of thing is dealt with as quickly as possible.”

Maddocks said that both Dacio and Bustamante had been at work Wednesday morning--she in Costa Mesa, he in Buena Park. After they failed to return from lunch, he said, he and others in the company became worried.

“I thought, ‘That’s rather strange,’ but I didn’t make much of a correlation” about their being missing at the same time, Maddocks said.

Dacio’s wife and Bustamante’s husband called police separately Wednesday night to file missing persons reports, Maddocks said.

The man and woman were both considered responsible people who loved their jobs, spouses and children.

Bustamante was the mother of a 3-year-old girl. Dacio is survived by a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, Maddocks said.

“This just doesn’t fit the mold for either of them,” Maddocks said. “They were very dependable, hard-working, professional people.”

Maddocks said that Bustamante had quit high school to have a baby but that she got into a special program learning the dental profession while she earned her diploma at night school. Once she graduated, she began to move up in the company, he said, having been recently promoted to insurance processor.

Maddocks recalled that when he had worked with her, she would often bring in her husband and child and introduce them to office workers.

“Their relationship seemed to be just fine,” Maddocks said of her marriage. “He seemed to be a good husband and a caring father.”

Dacio also appeared to be happy in his marriage.

“He was a real warm kind of guy,” Maddocks said. “He had a great personality.”

Co-workers were contacting the families Friday, offering aid and trying to console them, and Maddocks said.

“I’m appalled by the whole thing,” Maddocks said. “We are all shocked. I know there are a lot of questions, but I hope we can get some answers.”