Three found dead in Idaho; two children missing

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Three people were found slain in a home, and an Amber Alert was issued Tuesday for two missing children who live there, authorities said.

Police used a helicopter and dogs to scour a forested area near the home for any signs of Shasta Groene, 8, and her brother, Dylan, 9. Authorities said they had no clues as to their whereabouts. The FBI was also assisting in the search.

"Our main concern right now is the two children we cannot find," Sheriff Rocky Watson said.

The victims in the house were identified as Brenda Groene, 40, mother of the missing children; Slade Groene, 13, the children's brother; and Mark McKenzie, 37, of Coeur d'Alene, Watson said.

Watson said he did not know the relationship between McKenzie and the others.

Authorities discovered the bodies after they were called Monday evening by a neighbor who had gone to the house over the weekend and noticed something was amiss, sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

The bodies bore obvious signs of injury, but the cause of death remained unknown, he said. "They're treating it as an obvious homicide," Wolfinger said.

Wolfinger said the two missing children were not at school Monday, raising the possibility that they could have been abducted earlier.

The mother and father of the children are divorced and the children lived with their mother, Wolfinger said. Investigators have talked with the father, and he is not considered a suspect or person of interest.