The bodies of five family members were found in their charred home in the Vaud region of Switzerland. The police suspect the father shot dead his wife and three daughters and then committed suicide.
“After two days of intensive investigations, the trail of the family drama is the hypothesis favored by the criminal prosecutor’s office and the investigators,” said the Vaud police in a press release.
A weapon found near the father’s body
The house in Yverdon-les-Bains, a town on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel in the canton of Vaud, was rocked by a powerful explosion early Thursday before being ravaged by flames.
The bodies of family members living there – the 45-year-old father, the 40-year-old mother and their three daughters, aged five, nine and 13 – were found in the rubble. Each of the victims had bullet holes.
“A weapon was found near the father that could have been responsible for the four other murders before he took his life,” continues the police, who are currently ruling out “the intervention of a third party”.
The origin of the fire could not be officially determined, but it was determined that “a large quantity of fire accelerant, possibly gasoline,” was present in the various rooms of the house.