MONFORT, France, May 25 (AFP) - The gruesome murder of two middle-aged Dutch couples near this tiny Armagnac village appears to have been triggered by a search for "something specific", the mayor said Tuesday. Monfort mayor Denis Carrere emerged from a visit to the lonely 10-room home in southwest France where the four corpses were discovered Saturday saying "there are pools of blood and a strange smell." "The house appears to been combed ... for something specific." Artie and Marianne Van Hulst, owners of the large recently-restored white-stone property, both aged 51, and their friends Johan and Dorothea Van Nieuwenhuizen, aged 62 and 61 respectively, were found dead last weekend after being murdered Thursday. The mayor said the killings appeared to have taken place in two waves, with Van Hultst, the owner of a security goods firm who was active in local politics, killed ahead of the other three. Van Hulst, who headed Veiligheidstechniek Nederland BV, in Oss in northern Brabant, was found shot through the chest in a workroom behind the kitchen where he had apparently tried to barricade himself in to evade the attackers. No weapon was found but Carrere said there were traces of bullets in the house and that Van Hulst, who bought the house 10 months ago, appeared to have been killed Thursday evening while the other three were at a restaurant. The bodies of the two women were found, gagged and bound hand and foot with their throats cut, lying on their backs in different rooms. Johan Nieuwenhuizen was found in the kitchen, likewise bound and gagged and with his throat cut, but placed face downwards. The three who had their throats slit were wearing outdoor clothes, the mayor said. Prosecutor Guy Etienne said this weekend that the crime in the hamlet of Boupilleres in the Gers district France appeared to have been prepared minutely by one or more attackers. The killer or killers had taken some precautions before departing, hiding the victims' three cars in the garage, closing the brown window shutters, and putting up a chain across the entrance to the property to give the impression there was no one in the house. But police said it was not immediately apparent whether anything had been stolen, although the house had been left in some disorder. Carrere said however that "You get the impression that the house was searched." He noted that in the kitchen there were two small piles of papers, and that the drawers in both the kitchen and a bedroom had been emptied. "An armchair in a room had been cut open", he added. The alarm was raised Saturday by another Dutch couple residing in the area. They had arrived at the house on Friday evening following a dinner invitation, but no one had answered the door. They returned Saturday, became suspicious and broke in. The bodies were transferred to a forensic institute at Toulouse on Sunday afternoon. The results of autopsies were expected Tuesday.  