Mystery surrounds the bloody slaying of a man and woman who were gunned down and dumped more than 40km apart on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Monday.

Shortly after dawn‚ police found the body of a man riddled with bullet wounds in Ekangala near Umkomaas. Three hours later‚ they discovered the body of his female companion‚ who had been shot in the head and dumped in roadside scrub near Folweni‚ on the fringes of Durban's Umlazi area.

Now police are trying to decode what befell the couple in their final moments.

Police spokesperson Capt Nqobile Gwala said the first victim‚ a 40-year-old man‚ had been found by a passerby.

"He was found with gunshot wounds to the upper body next to the road. It is alleged that the victim was shot while he was with a 27-year-old woman‚ whose body was later found in Folweni’s C-Section‚" she said.

The woman had gunshot wounds to the head and was found in bushes. The vehicle the killers were travelling in was nowhere to be found‚ Gwala said.

The victims have not yet been named.