3 Dead in Suspected Murder-Suicide After Grandmother Discovers Grandson in Florida Home

The grandson, along with his mother and the mother's boyfriend, were found dead — and police believe the mom's boyfriend committed the crime

Photo: Fox 35 Orlando

Three people — a woman, her son and the woman's boyfriend — were all found dead in a home in St. Cloud, Fla., in an apparent murder-suicide, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.

Osceola Sheriff Marcos Lopez said in a press conference Tuesday night that the sheriff's office received a call from the grandmother of one of the victims at 2:30 p.m. She told authorities that she had gone to her grandson's home to check on him because she hadn't heard from him in a while, but upon entering his home, she found him dead.

Lopez said officers responded to the scene and found two additional dead bodies, the boy's mother and her boyfriend, whose identities have not yet been released. He identified the woman's grandson as an adult in his early 20s and said the mother and boyfriend appeared to be in their mid 30s to late 40s.

After a preliminary investigation, he said police believe that the mother's boyfriend was the one who carried out the murders.

"At this time we do suspect it's him based on what's on scene," said Lopez. "However, just because [of the] the conditions of the bodies, we want to make sure that we're waiting on a [medical examiner] to positively identify them and give an exact cause of death."

Lopez said that a gun was not found at the scene, and he did not give any other details about how the victims could have died. He said it was also unclear how long the family had been deceased before authorities received the call.

He added that there was no history of domestic violence at the residence and the boyfriend had been living in the home, which was in a mobile home park, with the mother and son since August.

Lopez called the situation a "horrific tragedy" and said that the grandmother who made the discovery was "very upset and distraught."

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Juan Acosta, a president of the HomeOwners Association in the area, told Orlando TV station WKMG-TV that the crime in the area was surprising.

"Not expecting stuff like that happen here because this is a family place," Acosta said. "A bunch of kids you can see here playing everyday."