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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
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.
