A San Antonio family and their two cats were found dead in an SUV parked in their garage Thursday, local police said.
The bodies of the husband and wife and their four young children — ages 11 months to 4 years — were discovered in the vehicle along with their cats in a basket as police conducted a welfare check at the residence.
Authorities arrived at the home around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, finding a note on the front door with military jargon and a cryptic message, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
An officer interpreted the note to read “bodies or people inside of the home, animals were in the freezer, and do not enter,” according to McManus.
Police entered the home to a strong noxious odor that was later identified as carbon monoxide, but officers, fearing explosives were inside, backed off and called EMS. Police used a robot to sweep the residence before clearing it of explosives and entering the garage to find the grisly scene.
“There’s no words can describe it,” McManus said of making the discovery.
The husband and wife were both in their 30s and they were a “military family,” McManus said. They had moved into the home in the Stone Oak neighborhood in January, though neighbors told police they “never saw them” out and about, according to McManus.
Police were still investigating a motive Thursday night and the identities of the family had not been revealed.
Cops were first alerted that something was off by the husband’s employer. He had been working from home and was required to call into work every morning.
He had called on Wednesday, but not on Thursday, and after repeated attempts to reach him, the employer alerted police, McManus said.
“So it happened sometime overnight, I’m guessing, based on the timeframe of everything,” he said.
McManus said authorities will be hunting through the residence for clues into the night.
“This is just the very beginning of the investigation,” McManus said. “Although it appears to be a suicide, there’ll be a lot of combing through the house to find any evidence they can of what happened in greater detail.”