Minnesota family of 5 found dead in apparent murder-suicide

MINNEAPOLIS Five members of a family are dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Greenwood, Minn., police said Thursday.

Police found the victims after being called to a home on Channel Drive just after noon on a welfare check, said interim South Lake Minnetonka Police Chief Mike Siitari. Siitari called the situation “tragic,” but said there is no threat to the public.

He said the family had not been seen in a couple of days, and that co-workers of a family member asked police to check on them.

Several law enforcement agencies were at the scene investigating.

Scanner traffic between police and dispatch indicated that all of the victims had suffered traumatic injuries. After securing a dog in the house, police searched the home and found the bodies, one by one, in different areas of the house.

The scanner discussion revealed the officers finding the bodies within a few minutes:

“Body in the house,” said an officer, found in a bedroom with a “traumatic injury.”

Dispatch asked, “More than one?”

“I believe so,” the officer responded.

A few minutes later, the other four were found.

Officer: “Victim 2 found in the basement, garage ... Third body, basement ... Fourth, basement.”

Then a different officer in the home reported to dispatch, “Another victim, lower level bedroom.”

The large home, built in 1998, is near Lake Minnetonka’s St. Albans Bay. It last sold in September 2011 for $2 million to a husband and wife, according to Hennepin County property records.

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