A North Carolina woman was found shot dead by her ex-boyfriend after she recently announced her engagement to another man on Facebook.

Karen Ann Rooney, 63, and Peter Terrance Moonan, 62, had reportedly dated for 16 years before ending their relationship earlier this year, the New York Daily News reported.

According to ABC News, the police said the spurned lover turned the gun on himself after he killed Rooney at her home in Maysville, N.C., and a neighbour found their bodies.

Rooney, a recently retired IBM employee, had become engaged to William Jenkins in recent weeks and had changed her Facebook status, indicating that she had become engaged.

Police believe this was what triggered Moonan to act, as well as a photo Rooney posted of herself and her fiancee.

Her comment wall had been the site of enthusiastic good wishes from friends and future in-laws, who seemed thrilled to be welcoming Rooney into the family. (ANI)