I stole stuff from the Steel Blade shop, got a bounty, they chased me outside and I ran behind some houses and went to hide. After them and the guards lost track i fast traveled out, did some stuff in my house, came back and realized that the shopkeepers were DEAD behind some of the houses.

I didn't even touch the guys. WTF? Guessing they won't come back now huh? This sucks. I wish I knew what caused this or that I had saved recently and not overwritten my autosaves by waiting literally days outside their shop before realising they were dead.

So, did the guards kill them or something? That's the only explanation I can think of.