DE SOTO, Mo., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A woman and her three children were found shot to death outside a Missouri home early Thursday, officials said.
The woman, 32, and the children, all girls, ages 1, 10 and 11, were found in a van parked outside the woman's estranged boyfriend's home near De Soto at about 12:30 a.m., KMOX-TV, St. Louis, reported.
Police said they are looking into whether this is a case of murder-suicide, but have not excluded the possibility of a homicide, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
"Detectives are looking into the possibility of a murder suicide but have not ruled out homicide by an undetermined source," Sheriff Oliver Boyer said in a statement.
Boyer said the estranged boyfriend had been questioned by police.
"We were contacted by the boyfriend early this morning," Boyer said. "He said he pulls into his driveway and sees her van. She has an active order of protection against him. He didn't want to get into trouble, so he goes back to an intersection near Highway 21 and calls for a deputy."
Deputies arrived and found the bodies, Boyer said.
"Right now, we'e got three dead children and a dead mother, and naturally we're going to be looking at this as a homicide investigation," Boyer said. "We'll be interviewing him (the boyfriend) throughout the day and anyone who has had contact with him."
The names of the deceased, as well as the boyfriend, were not released.
