Twins Die In Apparent Suicide Pact After Battling Debilitating OCD

Identical twin sisters Amanda and Sara Eldritch garnered national attention for their obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and were found dead in what appears to be a suicide pact. Their illness caused them to live obsessed with germs and contamination, including taking 10-hour showers and putting massive amounts of rubbing alcohol on their faces. 

They were found fatally shot on Friday, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette News. Sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Megan Richards told the newspaper that the twins appeared to have had a suicide pact. They were found in a vehicle parked near a rest area, the Denver Post reports. 

The twins received deep brain stimulation at Littleton Adventist Hospital to ease their medical condition in 2015, making the pair the first to receive surgery for OCD. A year after the surgery, it seemed that things were progressing in their treatment. The sisters shared that they were taking weekly cognitive therapy and off all psychiatric medication.  

"It's the first time in my life I can look at my anxiety and be like 'Wait a minute, this is a ridiculous thing to be doing,'" Amanda Eldritch to 9News in May 2016. 

"We had a serious rubbing alcohol problem," Sara said. "We could go through five bottles a day, each, and that was on our skin." 

They even cleaned their fruits and vegetables to the point of removing its natural coloring. 

"Blueberries change color because they've been rinsed for so long under hot water," Sara said. "We cook our food pretty much by rinsing it."

The sisters opened up to 9News that they had considered suicide since the age of 13.

A GoFundMe page set up for their mother explained that the twins "succumbed" to their disease. “Their progress after the surgery surpassed all expectations and they packed an entire lifetime into the last three years,” the page reads, “But, there is no cure for mental illness, and they finally succumbed to this insidious disease.”

The twins appeared on the show "The Doctors" in 2017.

"The Doctors" released a statement on Tuesday following news of the deaths: “Amanda and Sara Eldritch appeared on ‘The Doctors’ two years after their groundbreaking surgery to share their story of hope and newly-discovered happiness,” the statement said, according to Mercury News. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of their tragic passing and our thoughts are with their family during this difficult time.”

[Photo: Go Fund Me]