5 Utah family members found dead in home

Police say five members of a Utah family, including three children, were found dead in a home near Salt Lake City.

The dead were two adults, an 11-year-old boy and two girls, ages 9 and 2, said Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokeswoman for the West Valley City Police Department. It was not immediately clear how they died.

“This goes far beyond any routine. Today we just looked at the numbers of murders that happened in this city, and in all of 2024, there were four in this city. So that’s more than double that number,” she told KSTU.

According to law enforcement, a 17-year-old was also taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound after investigators encountered the grisly scene in West Valley City on Tuesday.

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Police are investigating the home in West Valley City, Utah, where the family members were found dead. (KSTU)

Vainuku added that the “absolutely horrific” incident was “confined to this house” and authorities do not believe a suspect is at large.

West Valley City police said they were first contacted Monday by a family member who said they had been unable to make contact with a woman who lived at the property.

“We have reached out to the home and attempted to make contact, but no one has responded,” the department wrote to Member to stay in touch.

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Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokeswoman for the West Valley City Police Department, called the incident “absolutely horrific.”

After the woman failed to show up for work on Tuesday, police said the family member then entered the home’s garage and found the 17-year-old – who also lives there – apparently suffering from the sound of a gunshot.

“Officers entered the home and found the bodies of five individuals inside,” the West Valley City Police Department said. “Initial information suggests that all of the deceased were members of the same family living in the house.”

Police are investigating inside the home and looking for evidence from doorbell cameras to figure out what happened, Vainuku said.