A child has been charged with four counts of murder in the slayings of two adults and two children at a home in West Virginia.
On Sunday, Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford confirmed the charges in a brief statement, but did not release further information because the defendant was a juvenile.
According to Rutherford, a man, his wife and two sons aged 12 and 3 were found dead by a relative at about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in a house on Cemetery Hill Drive near Elkview in Kanawha County.
He described the crime as violent, and not a random act.
A family member tried to contact the family on Saturday but was not successful, which prompted the visit on Sunday when they found that the front door was unlocked.
“We determined immediately on the deputies’ arrival they were all deceased,” said Rutherford.
A fifth family member, a teenage boy, had been found safe and away from the crime scene had been interviewed by the deputies.
The details about the victims or the circumstances surrounding their deaths were also not disclosed.
“We’re in the process now of going through the residence collecting evidence. Right now it’s very, very early,” Rutherford said in an interview.
One of the neighbors, Samra Mullins, said the did not hear anything coming from the nearby home.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking. You don’t expect this to be so close to home,” she said.
She shared that the unfortunate incident had put the community a little on edge.
“It’s just more stress. You know, we’re dealing with the COVID. It’s just more bad news,” said Mullins.