ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Family members said Friday a prominent political consultant was shot to death by someone visiting his home in an apparent double murder-suicide. The three men were found dead in a home off Hickory Oak Boulevard in east Orange County on Thursday.

No one who knew 36-year-old Ralph Gonzalez can believe he's gone. Republican Party state committeewoman Nancy Patterson gave Ralph Gonzalez his first campaign manager's job in 1994 after his graduation from the University of Florida.

"He's genius," she said. "He could cite facts and figures from presidential races 20 years ago."

In recent years, Gonzalez ran a political consulting business out of his home. He steered election campaigns for dozens of state and federal candidates, including State Representative Dean Cannon.

"He's a friend for over a decade, just a great person and just a really neat guy. It still has not sunk in," Cannon said.

Thursday morning, Orange County deputies conducted a well-being check on Gonzalez after an out of state friend called them. In his living room, they found the bodies of three men, Gonzalez, his 36-year-old roommate, David Abrami, and 30-year-old Robert Jason Drake.

Drake's grieving aunt, who asked not to be identified, told Eyewitness News he lived with her and his uncle for six months in an east Orlando neighborhood. He did tile work for his uncle after spending four years in the Marine Corps. But, six weeks ago, Jason told them he was having problems with a friend and was going to kill them.

An exact motive for the murder remains speculation. Detectives were planning to officially say who the shooter was in a Friday afternoon news conference, but instead they opted to conduct more interviews with Gonzalez' friends and associates.

"The sadness is unbelievable. He was such a good, honest, brilliant, brilliant human being whose life is gone," Patterson said.

Funeral services for Gonzalez, Abrami and Drake are still being planned.