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Nikolay LAZUKIN

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: Murder-suicide - Spree killer - Set his house on fire
Number of victims: 5
Date of murders: May 22, 2012
Date of birth: 1985
Victims profile: Devin Matlock, 21 / His wife, Natalya, 26, and their daughters, Angelica, 3; Zoe, 1; and Sulamia, 4 months
Method of murder: Beating with a baseball bat - Shooting - Asphyxiation
Location: Salem, Marion County, Oregon, USA
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the same day
 
 
 
 
 
 

photo gallery

 
 
 
 
 
 

Salem man kills stranger, wife, kids, self in four-hour span, DA says

By Everton Bailey Jr. - The Oregonian

September 10, 2012

A 27-year-old man suspected of killing his wife and three children in their Salem home in May, then shooting himself, is now believed to have killed an unrelated man whose body was found just blocks away.

The Marion County district attorney's office announced Monday that investigators determined that Nikolay "Nick" Lazukin beat Devin Matlock to death while the 21-year-old was walking home from a friend's apartment at about 2 a.m. on May 22.

Then Lazukin killed his wife, Natalya, 26, and their daughters -- Angelica, 3; Zoe, 1; and Sulamia, 4 months. Salem firefighters pulled their bodies from their burning home in the 2500 block of Fisher Road Northeast.

No motive was identified. An autopsy found that Nick Lazukin was not intoxicated during the fatal four-hour span.

Marion County sheriff's investigators and family members said that the Lazukins had no history of domestic abuse and that Matlock had never met them. Matlock's family was told he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, said Shalee Hernandez, his sister.

"We have to relive the heartache and the pain," she said Monday. "It's just too much."

Investigators said Nick Lazukin was signed on to his online account at Chemeketa Community College, where he was a student, sometime before midnight. He had driven from home in the family's Jeep Cherokee.

Surveillance video from a Wal-Mart on Lancaster Drive Northeast showed the Jeep twice driving on Fisher Road Northeast about 1:50 a.m. At one point, investigators said, it stopped at Fisher Road and Devonshire Avenue for about two minutes. That's where a delivery driver later spotted Matlock's body.

Matlock's friends told investigators that he ate dinner with them and watched a video at the apartment in the 2400 block of Coral Avenue Northeast before walking home before 2 a.m. They said his usual route included Fisher Road.

Matlock's blood was found on a baseball bat in Lazukin's Jeep and on Lazukin's shoes. An autopsy found imprints from the shoe soles on Matlock's jaw.

Investigators said Lazukin soon after drove to a Super 8 Motel in Salem, where he called out to a 28-year-old woman. She asked him for a ride, and video showed the duo leaving the motel's parking lot together in the Jeep about 2:50 a.m.

The woman later told investigators that Lazukin said that he lived with his ex-wife and three children and that he was looking for cocaine. He also asked her to go to Hawaii or Mexico with him.

After driving around, the woman said that Lazukin drove her to his home and parked. He told her he was going to get some money, and she thought she saw him take firearm magazines out of the glove compartment, she told investigators.

He then went inside and left her in the Jeep, she said. That's when Lazukin killed his wife and daughters, investigators said.

Natalya Lazukin was shot twice in the head. The oldest daughter, Angelica, was shot once in the head and the middle daughter, Zoe, was shot twice in the head, according to the state medical examiner's office. Baby Sulamia died of traumatic asphyxiation in her crib in the master bedroom.

Nick Lazukin used loaves of bread to muffle the shots from a .380 handgun that a family member had given him, investigators said. After killing his family, he spread gasoline in the attic stairway, the entry to the older girls' bedroom and the master bedroom, then set them all ablaze.

He returned to the Jeep, where he asked the woman whether she had heard him arguing with his wife, investigators said. She told him she didn't hear anything and they left.

At one point, investigators said, Lazukin asked the woman whether she would remember him if police contacted her and she said yes.

She said Lazukin gave her $25 to buy a cell phone and drove her to the Wal-Mart. Surveillance video showed the Jeep stopping in the store parking lot about 3:30 a.m. The woman got out and went into the store, and Lazukin left about 4:05 a.m. without her.

Investigators said the woman was not a suspect in the killings.

Lazukin drove around the area and apparently saw the delivery truck driver discover Matlock's body along Fisher Road Northeast, about 500 yards from the family home, a little before 4:30 a.m., investigators said. He turned around and drove away. The driver called police.

About 5:30 a.m., a neighbor saw smoke at the Lazukin home and called firefighters, who found the bodies of the mother and her children.

Lazukin drove onto Interstate 5 and headed south, investigators said. He stopped in a motel parking lot near Exit 174 in Cottage Grove, where he texted his father-in-law from his wife's iPhone.

Natalya Lazukin's father told investigators that he received the text message a little after 6 a.m. It indicated the exit where Nick Lazukin's body eventually was found.

"Please forgive me," the text said. "They took control of my body and did it. I BEGGED THEM NOT TO BUT THEY DID. I'm so sorry."

Lazukin died alone in the Jeep's back seat of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, investigators said.

Oregonian reporter Helen Jung contributed to this story.

 
 

Text to dead wife: 'MY LAST FIGHT I HAVE LOST AT EXIT 174'

Katu.com

September 10, 2012

COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. – A Salem man who killed his wife and three children also beat a man to death with a baseball bat before heading south on Interstate 5 and killing himself in the parking lot of a Cottage Grove motel, officials from the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said.

On Monday, investigators released their narrative of the gruesome chain of events.

The news included the first evidence made public linking the suspect to the death of a man found along a Salem road.

Investigators also found a witness who said the killer told her he was out looking for cocaine that night - and that he sent a haunting text message to his wife's cellphone after he killed her.

Nikolay Lazukin, 27, killed his wife, Natalya and their three children on May 22 before driving to Cottage Grove, Ore., and shooting himself, investigators said.

After killing his family, Lazukin also set his own house on fire.

Earlier that morning, Lazukin also killed 21-year-old Devin Matlock.

Matlock’s body was found on the side of a Salem road near Lazukin’s home. Detectives said Matlock was killed during his walk home after having dinner and watching a movie at a friend’s house.

A delivery truck driver found Matlock’s body just before 4:30 a.m.

Police said there was no indication that Lazukin and Matlock knew each other, or that Matlock knew Lazukin’s family.

After months of investigating, the following is what prosecutors say happened on the morning of May 22.

Witness was with Lazukin

Detectives interviewed more than 100 people during their investigation. One woman they interviewed, 27-year-old Christina Lowe, was seen on surveillance video leaving a Super 8 motel at 2:30 a.m. on May 22. That was before Lazukin set his house on fire.

As Lowe walked across the parking lot, Lazukin yelled at her from his Jeep to get her attention, investigators said.

Lowe and Lazukin had never met before.

Lowe told police that Lazukin agreed to give her a ride when she asked. Lazukin told her he lived with his ex-wife and three children, and he was out looking for cocaine. Lowe told police Lazukin asked her if she wanted to go Hawaii or Mexico with him.

The two drove back to Lazukin’s house, where Lowe waited in the car while he went inside to get money, police said.

As he got out of the SUV, Lazukin took what Lowe thought were ammunition magazines for a gun out of the glove box.

When Lazukin returned, he asked Lowe if she could hear him fighting with his ex-wife.

She said no, according to investigators.

Lazukin also asked her if she would remember him in case police ever contacted her.

She told him she would.

Lazukin drove Lowe to Wal-Mart and gave her $25 to buy a cell phone. Lowe went in the store alone, and Lazukin was gone when she came back out.

Some of Lowe’s belongings were found along Interstate 5 near Cottage Grove.

House set on fire

After Lazukin drove with Lowe to the Wal-Mart, firefighters were alerted to a fire burning at his house. They got that call around 5:30 a.m.

Inside, firefighters found the dead family.

Two of the children had been shot before the fire was set, investigators said. The third had been asphyxiated.

His wife, Natalya, had also been killed before the fire started.

Investigators found loaves of bread with bullet holes that they believe Lazukin used to silence his gunshots.

A plea for forgiveness

Investigators said Lazukin sent a text message to his wife’s phone after her death. Her father discovered the text, which read:

“Please forgive me. They took control of my body and did it. I BEGGED THEM NOT TO BUT THEY DID. I’m so sorry. PLEASE GOD FORGIVE ME. MY LAST FIGHT I HAVE LOST AT EXIT 174.”

Salem Police called police in Cottage Grove, which is along Interstate 5 where exit 174 is located. They found Lazukin dead in his Jeep Cherokee with a gun near his hand. Investigators said he committed suicide.

Police also found a baseball bat that had Matlock’s blood on it. Dr. Larry Newman, with Oregon Medical Examiner’s Office, said Matlock died of blunt force head injuries and suffered a broken nose, jaw and cranium. Newman said it also appeared Lazukin had stomped on Matlock's face with his shoe.

 
 

Refusing to believe Nick Lazukin killed family, then himself, brother posts grisly photos

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson - The Oregonian

May 25, 2012

Dismay and disbelief over a heartbreaking family murder-suicide in Salem, along with another suspicious death just down the road, are fueling speculation on social media sites that the crimes are connected to organized crime.

Online commenters, including the brother of the man suspected of killing his wife and three small daughters, have posted theories of a mass cover-up in which someone else killed the family of five. The comments are fueled in large part by post-autopsy photos of Nikolay "Nick" Lazukin released by his brother, Artem Lazukin.

But Oregon State Medical Examiner Dr. Karen Gunson said the grisly photographs tell a straightforward story.

"People enjoy conspiracy theories," Gunson said, adding, "I think they're totally mistaking our autopsy for injuries."

Police in Salem, a city of 155,000 that saw just three homicides in 2011, have been tight-lipped about the deaths, adding to the speculation. Lazukin, 27, was found Tuesday morning in his Jeep 80 miles south of the family's Salem rental home, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

His wife and three children had been pulled from their burned home hours earlier. Natalya Lazukin, 26, and her daughters Angelica, 3, and Zoe, 1, were shot to death while infant Sefi died of asphyxiation.

Police are also investigating the death of 21-year-old Devin R. Matlock, who died of blunt force head trauma four blocks away and whose death was reported one hour before the fire.

The Lazukins' immediate family members have declined to talk to reporters, but Artem Lazukin posted photographs of his brother after an autopsy conducted Wednesday.

Artem Lazukin said his brother is innocent, and being framed.

The photos show Nicolay Lazukin's head, the top swaddled in a green towel, with puffy, dark and bruised eyes and a red cloth tucked under his neck. His skin is mottled, with dark red splotches above his nose and what appear to be marks or cuts on one shoulder.

The condition of Lazukin's body is consistent with death by a gunshot wound to the head, Gunson said. During an autopsy, a forensic pathologist cuts ribs, removes the chest plate and every organ in the chest and abdomen and opens up the skull, she said.

Blood settles in the body after death according to gravity. In the case of a body slumped over a steering wheel, it would be typical to find swelling and hemorrhaging of the eyes, brows, lips and nose.

"(Lazukin) died of a gunshot wound to his head," Gunson added. "Remember, this is a guy they think shot his family and set his house on fire, so it wouldn't be unusual for him to have bruises or cuts. But there is no evidence of blunt force trauma that would cause a person to be unconscious or (suggest) that he's been beaten up or anything."

Still, a theory posted on Facebook suggests darker events: Someone kidnapped Lazukin and forced him to drive to a Cottage Grove motel and text a note to loved ones before shooting him in the head.

Another theory suggested that his injuries were beyond what Lazukin could have done to himself:

"I know people will start talking more about this, but Nick is innocent. He was found dead in the jeep. His throat is sliced, all his fingers broken, his ankles broken, his eyes knocked out. Looking at the evidence there was more than 3 people involved in this massacre," Artem Lazukin posted at 7:32 p.m. Thursday.

Artem Lazukin did not respond to messages sent to him on Facebook.

Among other allegations swirling online: Whether the deaths this week are connected to the death two weeks ago of Tatyana Tupikova, 22, killed in an unsolved hit-and-run in Battle Ground on May 11.

The rumors don't surprise police, said Lt. Dave Okada, spokesman for the Salem Police Department.

"They're going through a lot of trauma right now, there's a lot of emotion," Okada said.

"Our investigators are staying in very close contact with the family, to make sure there is no communication gap. Very close contact. There are things that we can not tell the family, or anybody, because we're still investigating."

 
 

Speculation swirls online in Lazukin murder-suicide

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson - The Oregonian

May 25, 2012

Dismay and disbelief over a heartbreaking family murder-suicide in Salem, along with another suspicious death just down the road, are fueling speculation on social media sites that the crimes are connected to organized crime.

Police in Salem, a city of 155,000 that saw just three homicides in 2011, have been tight-lipped about the deaths. Nikolay "Nick" Lazukin, 27, was found Tuesday morning in his Jeep 80 miles south of the family's Salem rental home, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

His wife and three children had been pulled from their burned home hours earlier. Natalya Lazukin, 26, 3-year-old Angelica and 1-year-old Zoe Lazukin, were shot to death while infant Sefi Lazukin, died of asphyxiation.

Police are also investigating the mysterious death of 21-year-old Devin R. Matlock, who died of blunt force head trauma four blocks away one hour before the fire was reported.

The investigations remain separate, said Lt. Dave Okada, spokesman for the department.

"We're still running hot and heavy on both investigations -- the gentleman who was found down the road, and the Lazukin family," Okada said. "Salem police department is still the lead investigative agency in both of these cases right now."

Would-be sleuths, including Artem Lazukin, who posted grisly photographs of his brother Nikolay Lazukin's mottled face after an autopsy conducted Wednesday, are filling in the holes of the investigations with speculations that unknown assailants killed Matlock and the Lazukin family. 

The photos show Lazukin's head, the top swaddled in a green towel, with puffy, dark and bruised eyes and a red cloth tucked under his neck. His skin is mottled, with dark red splotches above his nose and what appear to be marks or cuts on one shoulder.

The condition of Lazukin's body is consistent with death by a gunshot wound to the head, said Oregon State Medical Examiner Dr. Karen Gunson.

Still, a theory posted on Facebook suggests darker events: someone kidnapped Nikolay Lazukin and forced him to drive to a Cottage Grove motel and text a note to loved ones before shooting him in the head.

Another theory, accompanied by a post-autopsy photograph of his slain brother, suggested that his injuries were beyond what Lazukin could have done to himself:

"I know people will start talking more about this, but Nick is innocent. He was found dead in the jeep. His throat is sliced, all his fingers broken, his ankles broken, his eyes knocked out. Looking at the evidence there was more than 3 people involved in this massacre," Artem Lazukin posted at 7:32 p.m. Thursday.

A commenter agreed, posting this reply:

"This looks as if some sort of gang was involved in this, everything is planned out and Carried out Hit man style."

Another offered this: "The people that did it were very professional, hardly left any traces behind. Only little evidence was recovered from the house, seeing as how they set it on fire."

Among the other allegations swirling online: whether the deaths this week are connected to the death two weeks ago of Tatyana Tupikova, 22, killed in an unsolved hit-and-run in Battle Ground on May 11.

"People enjoy conspiracy theories," said Dr. Gunson. But in Lazukin's case, his remains tell a straightforward story.

"I think they're totally mistaking our autopsy for injuries," said Gunson.

During an autopsy, a forensic pathologist cuts ribs, removes the chest plate and every organ in the chest and abdomen and opens up the skull, Gunson said. "We're looking from top to bottom. All his organs were normal. He didn't have an injured spleen.

Blood settles in the body after death according to gravity. In the case of a body slumped over a steering wheel, it would be typical to find swelling and hemorrhaging of the eyes, brows, lips and nose.

"(Lazukin) died of a gunshot wound to his head," Gunson added. "Remember, this is a guy they think shot his family and set his house on fire, so it wouldn't be unusual for him to have bruises or cuts. But there is no evidence of blunt force trauma that would cause a person to be unconscious or that he's been beaten up or anything."

The rumors surrounding a heinous case don't surprise police, Okada said.

"That's not completely unusual, families, they're going through a lot of trauma right now, there's a lot of emotion. Our investigators are staying in very close contact with the family, to make sure there is no communication gap. Very close contact. There are things that we can not tell the family, or anybody because we're still investigating."

A memorial service for the Lazukin family will be at 5 p.m. Monday at the Slavic Christian Church of Salem, 4913 Auburn Rd. NE.

The Nick and Natalya Lazukin Family fund, to help pay for funeral services and burial, has been established at any Wells Fargo Bank branch.

 
 

Salem police confirm details of Lazukin murder-suicide, but not motive

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson - The Oregonian

May 24, 2012

SALEM -- Nikolay Lazukin, the man police said killed his wife and three daughters early Tuesday and then set his house on fire, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the state medical examiner said Thursday.

The autopsy adds an additional detail to what Salem police describe as a case of murder-suicide. They've declined to elaborate on motive but friends say the Lazukins were a happy family.

Natalya Lazukin, 26, and daughters Angelica, 3, and Zoe, 1, died of gunshot wounds. The youngest, 4-month-old Sefi, was not shot but died of asphyxiation, said Dr. Larry Lewman of the state medical examiner's office.

Still unclear is what connection, if any, there may be between the Lazukin family murders and the death of 21-year-old Devin R. Matlock. Matlock's body was found about an hour before the fire was reported at 5:30 a.m., just blocks from the Lazukin home; he died of head trauma, an autopsy found.

"We have two teams of investigators working on both incidents and they are still separate investigations," said Lt. Dave Okada, a spokesman for the Salem Police Department. "If the investigations merge at some point we will say what we truly think happened."

Matlock's mother, Colleen Matlock, said she has received scant information from police. When officers came to her door they told her that her son was dead and they were investigating his death as a possible hit-and-run.

"He wasn't hit by a car," she said, adding that the funeral director told her, "His head was smashed in and so was his face."

Firefighters found four bodies in the small, smoldering house in the 2500 block of Fisher Road Northeast on Tuesday morning. Police noticed a vehicle missing and put out an alert to law enforcement agencies to look out for the Lazukins' red Jeep.

The Jeep was found at a Comfort Inn in Cottage Grove, a little after 10 a.m. Cottage Grove police came to the front desk of the hotel just off Interstate 5 about 80 miles south of Salem.

Bikramjit Singh, a clerk at the hotel, said officers asked if anyone driving a Jeep with an Oregon license plate had checked into the hotel.

"We always ask people for their make and model of car and license plate, and we had no one check in with that kind of car," Singh said.

Minutes later, police found Nikolay "Nick" Lazukin's body inside the Jeep and called for Salem Police Department detectives, Singh said. Detectives and crime scene investigators spent about seven hours processing the Jeep, Singh said.

A records check of Nick Lazukin showed mostly traffic citations. However, court records show that in December 2005, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was required by a Marion County Court judge to complete eight hours of anger management classes. He completed the classes in April 2006.

Friends say the family showed no outward signs of distress. Nick worked and took classes full-time at Chekemeta Community College while Natalya worked as a dental assistant.

Meanwhile, mourners continued to visit the Northeast Salem home Thursday, including Amy Walcott and Renee Thompson, who drove down from Portland.

They dropped off personalized aprons for the girls, as well as a spinning pinwheel with the names of all three girls. "Angelica, no more pain, fly with the angels," read one of the aprons. "So sorry, you are safe in heaven now," read another.

"We just felt like we had to come down and offer our condolences," Walcott said.

 
 

Autopsies show Salem mother, two of her children were shot, infant was asphyxiated

By Helen Jung - The Oregonian

May 23, 2012

SALEM -- A mother and two young children whose bodies were recovered from a Salem home Tuesday morning were killed by gunshots, said Dr. Larry Lewman, from the state medical examiner's office.

A third child, 4-month-old infant, did not show any gunshot wounds and likely died of asphyxiation, Lewman said Wednesday.

Police officially identified the mother as Natalya Lazukin, 26. Her daughters were Angelica and Zoe. The baby was named Sefi.

Lewman said he expects to conduct on Thursday an autopsy of a man whose body was found in a car in Cottage Grove. The man, police said yesterday, is believed to be the father of the children and husband of the woman.

The bodies were discovered Tuesday morning  in a house at 2580 Fisher Road Northeast after a neighbor reported that the house was on fire. Police said the fire was the result of arson.

Lewman also finished the autopsy of a man found Tuesday morning just a few blocks from the house. He said investigators are looking into whether his death is related to the killings at the home.

Police removed evidence Wednesday from the home and cleaning crews also began to tackle the damage caused by the fire. Friends and loved ones left bouquets of flowers in front of the tan-colored home Wednesday. 

An 8 p.m. memorial is planned at the house by members of Salem's Slavic Christian Church.

Pastor Vyacheslav Boynetskiy, who speaks Russian, said in an interview that the family attended his church for several years. He called the deaths a tragedy.

"I don't know what happened, why. For me, there is many many questions," he said.

Meanwhile, the administrator at the Slavic Christian Church, which the family had attended for several years, said the Slavic community in the Salem area is reeling over what appears to be the loss of an entire family.

"It's not a big Slavic community here in Salem so everybody knew somebody who knew Nikolay and Natalya," said Peter Ignatovich Tuesday afternoon. "It is shocking."

He added that "it is very shocking that Nick is being portrayed as someone who would commit all these crimes because it never came across that Nick would do this to his kids.

"He loved them and adored them and would do everything that a good dad would do."

Ignatovich described the Lazukins as a "very happy couple."

"It would make way more sense if there was some kind of hint," he said.

"All the speculations are just speculations now," he said. "We don't know what caused this or what happened."

Ignatovich confirmed that a memorial for the family is planned for Tuesday at 8 at the Lazukin home. It is being organized by the church's youth group, which normally meets on Wednesdays at the church. He said they were moving their meeting to the house to honor the family.

Meanwhile, at the home, investigators continued to come and go.

A chain-link fence has been set up around the home and a private security guard has been on the property throughout the day. The guard declined to talk in detail, saying simply that his company had assigned him to watch the home.

Meanwhile, two other men in paramilitary looking gear – black jackets, khakis and watchcaps – were carefully walking up and down the sides of Fisher Road Northeast between the Lazukin home and the spot where another body -- that of 21-year old Devin R. Matlock of Salem-- was found early Monday.

Both men appeared to be examining the street and the grassy areas near the street closely and occasionally conferred with one another.

Also on Tuesday, a Salem police officer emerged from the house carrying a rifle case. He walked it over to a patrol car and logged it in as evidence. He declined to answer questions about what sort of weapon might be in the case.

Authorities also removed a green Subaru from the driveway near the home. Neighbors had earlier identified the Subaru as one of the vehicles belonging to the Lazukins.

Ignatovich said he was  under the impression that Nikolay Lazukin had been a student at Chemeketa and said he believed the young man was studying nursing.

Chemeketa Community College spokesman Greg Harris said Lazukin started full-time at the Salem two-year college in 2003 but attended sporadically. He was enrolled presently as a full-time student.

 
 

Family of five dead in Salem murder-suicide, police say

By Stuart Tonlison - The Oregonian

May 22, 2012

Police have discovered the bodies of three children and a woman inside a burning house in Salem.

Authorities said it appears a man whose body was found earlier in Cottage Grove killed his family and then himself in a murder-suicide.

Lt. Dave Okada of the Salem Police Department said a fire was reported at a house in the 2500 block of Fisher Road NE at around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. Firefighters found the bodies of the young children inside and the woman; all four had been murdered.

At 11 a.m., the body of a man—believed to be the husband of the dead woman and the father of the three dead children—was found in a car in Cottage Grove, 85 miles from the crime scene.

At 4:23 a.m., a delivery driver contacted police when he found the body of a dead man lying in the road near Devonshire Avenue NE in the 2800 block of Fisher Road NE about four blocks away from where the four bodies were later found.

Okada said the death is being investigated as separate from the murder suicide just down the street.

Police are not releasing names of the family involved, but said the Oregon State Police, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms and the Marion County District Attorney's Office are assisting Salem police in their investigation.

"We still have to process the scene in Cottage Grove, and at the house in Salem,'' Okada said. "There is still a lot of work to do."

Okada said autopsies were scheduled on the victims.

Salem resident Rosa Chavez, 30, lives across the street from the home where the mother and children were found dead.

She said she was up until 2 a.m., and even stepped outside before heading to bed and didn't hear a commotion. She said the lights of the house were not on.

She woke up this morning and found police had been surrounding the neighbor's home since about 5:30 a.m.

 The house where the bodies were found is a single-family, light-green colored home with a gray fence surrounding it. It's one story with what appears to be an attic.

Today, Chavez noticed that several windows of the home had been blown out. She said she also noticed the explosives squad outside the location assisting in the investigation.

"It's not black or charred. I think they caught it before anything went up. There's just windows out,'' Chavez said. "The back door window, and the attic window is blown out.

 Chavez said she's lived in the neighborhood for a year and a half, and the family across the street hasn't been there as long. One of their cars - a red-and-green Subaru -  remains in the driveway, she said.

It appears one of the victims was found outside the home.  Authorities had the body covered with a blanket earlier in the day, neighbors said.

"It's pretty crazy and I'm kinda concerned,'' said Chavez, who has her own children.

Chavez said the couple appeared to be in their 30s or 40s, but she said she never noticed children outside the house.

"Once in a great while, I'll see them outside doing something in their yard,'' she said.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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