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Police: Family who feared Apocalypse died in murder-suicide

"The other two children were obviously too young to consent to any sort of agreement to commit suicide," Springville, Utah, police said.

By Frances Burns

SPRINGVILLE, Utah, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A Utah couple who wanted to escape Apocalypse died with three of their four children in a murder-suicide, police have ruled.

The deaths of Benjamin and Kristi Strack of Springville were ruled suicide, while the two younger children, Emery, 12, and Zion, 11, have been found to be homicide victims because they were too young to make a decision to kill themselves. The cause of death is listed as "undetermined" for Benson, 14, who left a note bequeathing his possessions to a friend.

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"Because of his age, it is difficult to determine if he was capable to make a decision to commit suicide or to consent to join with his parents in committing suicide," Springville police said in a news release Tuesday, adding "The other two children were obviously too young to consent to any sort of agreement to commit suicide."

The bodies were found Sept. 27 by the oldest son, Jason McGee, then 18, and his grandmother. McGee called her when he returned home and found his family missing and his parents' bedroom door locked.

Kristi Strack and the children overdosed on a combination of over-the-counter medication and methadone, the Utah State Medical Examiner ruled. Benjamin was killed by a heroin overdose.

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Investigators said relatives were aware the couple was making preparations for something but misunderstood their plans.

"This apocalyptic thing became fairly common," Police Lt. David Caron said."Most of the people ... thought their intention was to move to Montana and live out in the forest off the grid."

Police Chief J. Scott Finlayson said there is no evidence anyone in the family was forced to take the lethal drugs. But investigators are unsure if the younger children understood what they were doing.

Kristi Strack had a history of heroin abuse, police said. She was also friendly with a daughter of Dan Lafferty, who was convicted with his brother of a notorious double murder, and she and her husband had visited Lafferty in prison.

Lafferty and his brother, Ron, were members of a splinter group of former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints who killed their sister-in-law and her baby, apparently because they believed Brenda Lafferty was keeping Ron's wife from agreeing to a plural marriage. Finlayson said investigators interviewed Laffery in prison and said he apparently had no knowledge of the Stracks' plans. Lafferty had asked the Stracks to handle arrangements at his own death.

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