After a two-day search, the remains of three young children and their mother were retrieved from a lake in Minnesota. The matter is being investigated as a “possible murder-suicide,” police say.
On Friday afternoon, authorities in Vadnais Heights conducted a welfare check on a woman, 23-year-old Molly Cheng, and her children.
At a park, the woman’s vehicle and belongings, including the children’s shoes, were located. That is when police closed off the park and began to look in the water and surrounding area.
Close to 7:30 p.m., on Friday, the first child was taken from the water and was pronounced deceased. Then, around 12 a.m., the second child was found, lifeless.
The search was halted for a short time. Then, the woman’s body was found around 10:40 a.m., and the third child was found 20 minutes following that. Both were pronounced deceased.
The two boys were 4 and 5, and the girl was three.
The welfare check at the lake came after a death investigation began in a city, close by. On Friday morning, police had found the father dead from an apparent suicide, in a residential location.
Police then started looking for the mother and children and tracked the mother’s cell phone to the lake.
No other details have been released regarding the two death cases.
