One Whole Family.... ONE BIG MYSTERY

[deanmine]

Mystery of family found dead inside their home may NEVER be solved:

Investigators baffled after they find no signs of a struggle or poisoning

:Benjamin and Kristi Strack, 37 and 36, were found dead in Springville home

Found along with sons Benson, 14, and Zion, 11, and daughter Emery, 12

:Another son of the couple found their bodies on Saturday night

:Preliminary autopsy results rule out violent assault in their deaths

:Police are still looking at the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning

Authorities may never piece together a full picture of the last hours of beautiful and happy Utah family of five all found dead in their home, a family spokesman said Tuesday.
The Stracks of Springfield--Benjamin and Kristi Strack, 37 and 36; with children Benson, 14; Zion, 11; and 12-year-old Emery--were all found by an older son and grandparent in the parents' room on Saturday.
They showed no signs of physical struggle, no wounds were found and a test for carbon monoxide in the home came back negative.
'We understand that those answers will take time, and that it is likely we will never know everything in perfect detail,' said Bob McGee

The statement from McGee, uncle to the Strack children including the surviving son Janson, 18, was the first from the family since their loved ones' perplexing deaths.
'We are shocked and heartbroken by the sudden loss of so many members of our family,' Bob McGee said, reports Deseret. 'Events like this are difficult to understand, and even harder to come to terms with. And no words can adequately describe our feelings of grief and sorrow.'
Even Springville Police Lieutenant Dave Caron, meanwhile, appeared daunted by the initial lack of a cause of death.

'I didn't get into law enforcement to not have answers. I got into law enforcement to have answers. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where we just don't have them. I wish we did,' he told reporters.
Even as the mystery goes unsolved, the Strack's community has started down the daunting path to healing.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help surviving family with 'overwhelming' funeral costs ahead.
The page devotes a few lines in remembrance of each family member, like father Benjamin. 'His heart was too big for this world and the love everyone felt when near him will not be forgotten,' it reads.
The mom Kristi, the writer says, was 'charismatic, kind and loyal.' Her only daughter, Emery, loved animals.
Fourteen-year-old Benson loved to draw dragons and practice karate. His younger brother Zion, the youngest, 'brought everyone he came across happiness and joy.'
In spite of the roadblocks, police are still investigating what caused the deaths after preliminary autopsy results ruled out any sort of violent foul play.
On Monday, the first heart-wrenching photos emerged of the handsome family. And the Stracks are exactly how surviving family members remember them--always smiling.
Preliminary autopsy results have ruled out any sort of violent assault or foul play.
'The Medical Examiner has indicated that the next step is to continue the investigation through analysis of blood samples to determine what may have caused the deaths,' the Springville DPS said in a statement.
'Preliminary autopsy results for the family of five who were found dead in their home have ruled out any sort of violent assault,' Springville police said in a statement.
Police Lt. Dave Caron said the cause of death has not been determined, and will not be until an analysis of blood samples is concluded.
The medical examiner's office provided no time frame for the release of results of laboratory testing.
The bodies were found shortly before 8 p.m. in the parents' bedroom by their 18-year-old son Janson.
Their son returned home and knew something was wrong because of how quiet the house was, said Springville Police Chief J. Scott Finlayson, reported Deseret News.
He then went to his grandparents' home nearby to question their whereabouts, and returned with his grandmother to find the bodies.
Caron said someone either saw or talked to the family Saturday morning, but he was unsure about the last person to make contact with them.
While a test of air in the house by firefighters did not find any carbon monoxide, investigators have not ruled that out as the cause of death.
The front door of the house was open and the back door was cracked open before firefighters arrived, Caron said, and the gas could have ventilated before the test.
The family's pets were all fine.
Asked whether foul play has been ruled out, Caron said, 'I don't rule out anything ... We haven't ruled out anything except there was no violent trauma. We're going to look at everything.
'I do know when I was in there (house) I didn't see anything that would suggest a struggle ... I saw nothing like that,' he added.
A Facebook tribute page has been set up to remember the family.
One user wrote: 'I feel a part of me has been lost. My brother Ben was my best friend.
We did everything together. He always made me happy when he was around. Emery, Benson and Zion it seems like yesterday I was helping them with home work and taking them camping. I remember Benson caught his first fish with us on the trip.'
Another user wrote: ' Ben is one of my best friends. He was always like a brother to me as we grew up. I will miss him so much.
'His kids had the biggest smiles every time I seen them.'
On the tribute page another user wrote: ' I sat in a couple parent teacher conferences with both Ben and Kristi.
They were always so thrilled to talk with me about Zion, they were truly proud parents.
'I had the privilege to have their sweet, smiling, energetic, big brown eyed Zion in my second grade classroom. The happiness and energy he brought to school with him every day was infectious.'
The duplex where the family lived is located on a road leading to a high school in the city of 30,000 located just south of Provo.

[luton loyal]

[Agapeti]

suspected poisoning http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...n_6074442.html

[CrunchyCripple]

Sounds like they had a Jonestown party.

[spudigitti]

That's very sad

[True life]

Great post very sad story they were a very beautiful family they looked happy in all the pictures Sonya think it was staged foul play involved my what would make a person do this my heart thoughts and prayers are with the family

[Kerri]

What a beautiful, soulful family. Rip poor dears.

[zeratul]

damn

[gatagato]

***Update

Police say Utah family found dead last fall overdosed on drugs, parents feared apocalypse

SPRINGVILLE, Utah – A Utah couple and their three children who were found dead in their home last fall overdosed on drugs after the parents told friends and family they were worried about the apocalypse, authorities said Tuesday.

Police also found old letters written by the mother to a Utah inmate serving time for killing family members in the name of God, slayings chronicled in the 2003 Jon Krakauer book "Under the Banner of Heaven."


ADVERTISEMENT
Benjamin and Kristi Strack and three of their four children -- ages 11, 12 and 14 -- were found dead in September in a locked bedroom of their Springville home. All five were in a bed, with the kids tucked into the covers around their parents.

At a news conference Tuesday, Springville Police Chief J. Scott Finlayson said investigators have concluded their probe and determined the family members died from drug toxicity from either methadone, heroin or a combination of drugs, including those found in cold medicine.

Authorities determined the parents committed suicide. The younger two children's deaths were ruled homicides, although Finlayson said there were no signs of a struggle.

The manner of death for the 14-year-old, Benson Strack, was undetermined.

Police said Benson wrote a goodbye letter, leaving some of his belongings to his best friend. The only other recent writing the family left behind was a notebook containing handwritten to-do lists about feeding the pets and other chores.

Finlayson said interviews with people who knew the Stracks indicated the parents were worried about evil in the world and wanted to escape from "impending doom."

"There seemed to be a concern about a pending apocalypse that the parents bought into," Finlayson said. "While some friends though that suicide may have been, or could have been, included in their plans, others believed they were going to move somewhere and live off the grid."

During their investigation, police found years-old letters between Kristi Strack and Dan Lafferty, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted of committing a double-murder with his brother Ron.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" is about members of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told through the true story of the Laffertys' crimes. The two killed their brother's wife and 15-month old daughter.

Ron Lafferty was condemned to death for the July 1984 slayings of his sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, and her baby in American Fork. He claimed to have had a religious revelation sanctioning the slayings because of the victim's resistance to his beliefs in polygamy.

Investigators said Kristi Strack was deeply interested in the case and struck up a friendship with Dan Lafferty.

"It was almost like he talked to her like one of his children," Lt. David Caron said. She and her husband both became close to him, and he had directed his remains to go to them after his death. They hadn't talked to him since 2008 and investigators do not believe the couple's beliefs came from Dan Lafferty, police Cpl. Greg Turnbow said.

"He felt really sad they had committed suicide," Caron said.

Benjamin Strack's brother Jacob said the final report from investigators wasn't surprising to relatives still mourning the family's deaths.

Looking back, the connection to Dan Lafferty was a troubling sign about the couple's mental state, he said.

The Stracks' older son and the children's grandmother found the bodies Sept. 27, according to search warrants. The older son was Kristi Strack's child from a previous marriage.

Police found cups with liquid inside next to each of the bodies and a child's sand bucket behind a door with traces of the same combination of methadone and cold medication that was found in their systems.

Police believe that Benjamin Strack died last because he was the only member of the family who wasn't underneath the bed covers.

In a recording of the 911 call released Tuesday, family friend Maureen Ledbetter tells the dispatcher about the deaths as grandmother Valerie Sudweeks screams in the background.

The methadone used in the deaths was prescribed to Kristi Strack, police said.

Court records show Benjamin and Kristi Strack had a history of legal and financial problems and had gone through court-ordered drug treatment several years ago. Investigators said they weren't aware of any contact with state child services workers.

Benjamin Strack's boss has said it appeared those troubles were behind them.

Springville is a city of about 30,000 near Provo, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City.

This Sept. 28, 2014, file photo, shows the Springville, Utah home where five family members were found dead. Police say all five died from methadone and other drugs, and interviews with people who knew them revealed the parents worried about a "pending apocalypse."


In this Oct. 2, 2014 file photo, flowers and photos are on display during a vigil for the Strack family at Pioneer Park in Provo, Utah

[GregK]

Poor kids.

Lets escape this unsure apocalypse by surely killing ourselves.. and children.