The sister of two women found dead together on their living room couch Sunday afternoon said Thursday she believes her sisters were murdered.

Both the Lancaster County coroner and the sheriff's office have said there was no indication of foul play in the deaths of Peggy Small, 55, and Gail Patterson, 51.

The sisters were found at their home at 1799 Flat Creek Road on Sunday, but Coroner Mike Morris said the women had been dead since June 30 or July 1.

Carol Brasington of Lancaster, the sole surviving sister in the family, said Thursday she is convinced her sisters, whom she described as "good, decent people," not only lived in better conditions than were portrayed by neighbors in media reports but were crime victims.

"They were either poisoned or drugged," Brasington said Thursday. "I know that they were murdered."

The sisters both had incomes of disability checks, said Brasington, and money could have been a motive. Brasington also said she heard the bodies were moved to the couch from the bedroom the sisters shared.

But there was no evidence of blunt force trauma, shootings or stabbings or any other foul play indicators during a preliminary autopsy done after the bodies were found, said Morris. The coroner also said there was no evidence to show the bodies had been moved before or after the sisters died.

"They were sitting where they died," Morris said Thursday.

Maj. David Belk of the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office declined to address Brasington's claim that Small and Patterson might have been killed, describing the case only as a "death investigation." He declined to offer any other information or description of the possible cause of death because the investigation is pending.

"It would be inappropriate to comment," Belk said.

One of the friends of the sisters interviewed Sunday by police told deputies both women had an addiction to prescription medication, a police report shows.

Morris said he has spoken to the children of both Small and Patterson, explaining that laboratory testing will take time. Toxicology testing and a more extensive autopsy are being done, Morris said. Results will not be available for weeks.

Investigators have not received the same toxicology and autopsy results that the coroner is waiting for, Belk said. As in any death investigation, police are continuing to talk with people about the case, he said.

"We are not sitting on our hands," Belk said.

Belk said he understands and respects that families grieve when loved ones die, but investigators sometimes cannot offer quick answers.

"This is not like television where the answers come in 10 minutes," Belk said. "It takes awhile."

Brasington also said her sisters' living conditions were better than what was portrayed by neighbors and former in-laws and statements to police.

Peggy Small had breast cancer and heart-bypass surgery, Brasington said, and Gail Patterson had scoliosis and a knee replacement.

Small had lived in the house, owned by Small's son, for about 30 years, Brasington said. Jill Patterson, Gail Patterson's daughter, told police her mother moved from North Carolina to live with Small a few weeks ago. The sisters did not have a car, Brasington said.

A friend of the sisters told police that he brought food and cigarettes to their home June 29 after a request from Gail Patterson, according to a police report. Another friend told police Gail Patterson called her June 30 to ask for a ride to the store, but when she went to the home July 1, no one responded.

A pastor where the women attended church June 27, the Sunday before they were found dead, said Small had asked the next day about using the church's food pantry. Neighbors also told The Herald they gave food to Small periodically and often gave her rides to the store and use of a telephone. At one point, they said, the home did not have running water.

Yet Brasington said her sisters did not lack food, nor was there any period when the home didn't have water service. The delivery of a refrigerator and stove to the home after Gail Patterson moved in was to replace a refrigerator that was donated and a stove that needed to be replaced, not because the house had no appliances, she said.

"My sisters never went without anything," Brasington said, adding that she knew her sisters and they would ask her for help if they needed it.

Small and Patterson each had two adult children. Brasington said she just wants people to know of Small and Patterson that "they were really loved, especially by their family."

Both sisters had even recently donated to church ministries and bought clothes for others at thrift stores, Brasington said.

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