Police seek answers after 7 found dead in Kirksville duplex

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- Bryan Norman shook his head Monday as he remembered watching the small children next door scampering happily in their back yard.

Police on Monday were still trying to solve the mysterious deaths of the two children and five adults who were found the day before inside a duplex apartment on a quiet, tidy street in this remote northeast Missouri town.

Police chief Jim Hughes said a reading on a fire department sensor indicated a high level of carbon monoxide at the home. Police were consulting with the maker of the carbon monoxide detector to get a better understanding of what the reading meant.

"It's a very critical element of our investigation," Hughes said.

The seven bodies were discovered around 2:30 p.m. Sunday after a 911 call. Names have not been released, but police said the victims included the 23-year-old tenant and two of her children -- a 1-year-old boy and a girl who would have turned 2 later this month. Also discovered were the bodies of two 21-year-old men, a 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman.

"On Thursday I saw them playing on the swing set," Norman said of the children. "They were just little kids. It's terrible to think about."

Police weren't sure if any of the other adults lived in the split-level duplex. A woman living in the building's other apartment was evaluated at a hospital but was OK.

The children had a 4-year-old sibling who wasn't home at the time, and who was accounted for and safe, Hughes said.

By Monday, rumors around this town best known as the home to Truman State University were rampant. Hughes declined to speculate on whether it was just a horrible accident or something more sinister.

"It is tempting in a high-profile case such as this to prematurely speculate on the cause of death and whether that cause was the result of some type of wrongdoing," Hughes said. "Well, we're not going to do that."

The home heating system was functioning properly and was not the source of any problem, Hughes said. A van parked in the garage was taken to a crime lab, but Hughes would not say if the van had been running inside the enclosed garage. The lab was also looking at a second van parked on the driveway.

All seven bodies were taken to a medical examiner's office in Columbia for autopsies. Hughes expected results by Tuesday.

Hughes said dispatchers received 911 calls from "juvenile girls" who tried for several hours to contact people inside the home. They also reported a strange odor.

When paramedics arrived, they found the victims in three rooms. Hughes would not discuss details about how they were found, but he said it did not appear any tried to get out of the house.

Authorities believe the victims had been dead for less than 24 hours.

A candlelight vigil was planned for 5:30 p.m. Monday outside the yellow duplex, which sits on the corner of a quiet cul-de-sac a few blocks from campus. It wasn't known if any of the victims were Truman State students.

"It's horrible," said Regina Lee, who lives two doors down from the duplex. "To find seven people in there. I just can't understand it."

Norman and Lee said the family moved into the apartment about four months ago. Norman often saw young people coming and going, including a boyfriend of the tenant. Neither neighbor had ever spoken at length with anyone at the home.

Kirksville, a town of 17,000 residents, is about 30 miles south of the Iowa border and 165 miles northwest of St. Louis.