Police in Houston, Texas are investigating the mysterious deaths of a family of five in the 10100 block of Stonewood Street today. Investigators say the victims are two adults and three young children.
On Saturday afternoon, Winston Brisko noticed that his neighbors' bull was wandering around his yard unattended. Concerned, Brisko and another family member walked up to their neighbors' house and Brisko peered through the fence. It was then that he quickly realized something was seriously wrong something far worse than a wandering bull.
"We saw a body, but we couldn't see a face and there was a rifle next to him," Brisko told the Associated Press.
It did not appear to Brisko that his neighbor was alive, so he ran home and dialed 9-1-1. The Houston Police Department logged his emergency call at 3:30 p.m. Within minutes several patrol cars had arrived at the scene and officers cautiously made their way to the house.
Investigators found the body of a man on the front porch, in the area Brisko had described in his 9-1-1 call. A 22-caliber rifle lay near his body, along with several shell casings. Inside, police first found the body of a woman, believed to be the victim's wife, and the body of a boy, approximately eight years old, in a room adjoining the porch. In another room, police found the bodies of two other children, a boy, who appeared to be five years old and a girl who appeared to be four years old.
"I've been a police officer for 25 years and this is the [call] you just hope you never have to make," Sgt. John Chomiak told ABC13.com.
Police believe the family had been dead for at least 48 hours before their bodies were discovered. Investigators will not comment on how the family died or if they suspect that their deaths were a murder-suicide. They have only said that there were no obvious signs of a struggle inside the home.
Investigators have not released the names of the victims; however a reverse directory search of the address leads to a home owned by a man with the first name of Salvador. Police will not confirm or deny the accuracy of that information, so for now I cannot publish the last name of the family associated with that address.
According to neighbors, the man, who was last seen alive on Friday, was an immigrant from Central America who was working in the U.S. as a construction worker. The family had lived in the home, which the man had built himself, for approximately seven years.
"I never saw anything wrong with them," neighbor Maria Pardo told Chron.com. "(The mother) was always smiling. They were happy."
The investigation continues.
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