Authorities believe that a man shot and killed his wife and four children, started his home on fire, and then turned the gun on himself, according to the Associated Press.
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The office of South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued a statement Monday night saying preliminary autopsy results show all six members of the Westerhuis family died of shotgun wounds.
The announcement says the mother’s passings and four kids have been ruled manslaughters. It says the manner of death for father Scott Westerhuis is suspected suicide.
An examination concerning his passing is progressing.
All six family members were found dead on Thursday after a fire destroyed their house near Platte, South Dakota, a small city about 110 miles west of Sioux Falls. Flames had engulfed the house when the firefighters arrived, and the victims inside were unidentifiable. We have a dog as part of the DCI that deals with accelerants. The education organization was based in Platte and provides language, hearing, and speech services to students in the district where their children attended. Scott and Nicole were employed at Mid-Central Cooperative for over a decade. “They came back to raise their children here”, Guericke added.
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The family was an active part of the First Reformed Church in Platte, the Argus Leader reports. “They were involved with coaching their teams, worked with their youth groups at church”. Our thoughts and prayers are with the extended families of Scott and Nicole as they mourn the loss of children and grandchildren.
