CUMBERLAND — Besides leaving a note warning firefighters of live ammunition in his burning house, Norman Langelier, 61, left a suicide note, the police confirmed yesterday.

Though authorities have released the contents of Langelier’s warning to emergency officials, the department has not released the contents of the letter that might shed light into why he killed Beatrice A. Langelier, 60, his wife of nearly 40 years.

The police said yesterday they are wrapping up their investigation into the house fire and apparent murder-suicide that claimed both Langeliers, and said that the department will not comment on possible motives for the crime anytime soon.

“Even if we found out the reasons, we would not tell the public,” said Deputy Chief Michael Kinch. “It does not benefit the family.”

Kinch said the police are confident that Norman killed Beatrice before rigging the couple’s home at 500 Nate Whipple Highway to explode and taking his own life early Thursday morning.

But he declined to say what the police think happened in that house before it erupted in explosions at about 4:30 a.m. “Whatever I say at this point would be a guess at best, and we are not in the business of guessing,” said Kinch.

According to the police, Langelier had scattered propane tanks throughout the house, but it’s still not clear how he set off the fire or the subsequent explosions and why. A report from the state fire marshal’s office is pending.

Norman was the president of Barber Electric Manufacturing Company, a producer of metal electrical equipment and supplies in North Attleboro; Beatrice was a homemaker. They had no children and had lived in the 3,300-square-foot house with their three Yorkshire terriers since 1999.

Kinch said yesterday that the police based their conclusion on a note Langelier left, along with other personal effects, in his truck — as well as the state medical examiner’s autopsy report, which concluded on Friday that Beatrice died from skull fractures and brain injuries resulting from a gunshot wound to the head.

The medical examiner determined that Norman died from multiple blunt force injuries, which the police said was consistent with the explosions that he apparently set off.

Kinch would not say what information the apparent suicide note contained. The police said previously that Langelier had left a note outside of the house that said, “Firemen, please do not enter. Explosives, gunpowder and ammunition inside the house.”

The police said the note to emergency responders, written on a large piece of paper affixed to a propane tank in the bed of his pickup truck, saved firefighters from injury.

The note was in Norman’s handwriting and consistent with the handwriting of the suicide note, said Kinch. “Everything points to him writing the note,” he said.

Kinch said that detectives are satisfied in their questioning of family members and business acquaintances and their research into the couple’s past; however he would not name whom the police interviewed and what was found during the investigation, which is ongoing.

The police originally assigned five detectives to the investigation in the wake of Thursday’s fire; the department has pared that down to one lead detective, Richard Quinn, who will write the final report on the case, Kinch said.

Meanwhile, as questions remain about how Beatrice spent her final hours, her family has made preparations for her burial. Funeral arrangements for Norman will be held separately, her family said. None of the Langeliers could be reached yesterday.

A wake for Beatrice (Cabral) Langelier will be held tomorrow at Holt Funeral Home, 510 South Main St. in Woonsocket, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Smithfield, with the burial to follow in the parish cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family is asking that contributions be made to the Friends of the North Smithfield Animal Shelter, PO Box 391, Slatersville, RI 02876.

pmarcelo@projo.com