The five people found killed among several slaughtered pets on a rural Oregon property on Saturday have been identified as the murderer’s girlfriend and her relatives and friends, according to authorities.
The suspect, Benjamin Charles Parker, 36, died of an apparent suicide inside a car in Enumclaw — over 180 miles from the remote property in Forest Grove where he murdered three generations of his girlfriend’s family, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
The victims include Parker’s girlfriend, 26-year-old Stella Jade Kimsey; her 60-year-old mother, Rowan Karla Kimsey; and her 85-year-old grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Kimsey, police said.
Stella Kimsey’s best friend, 26-year-old Linsey Mae Haraldsen, and Haraldsen’s partner, Alvin Raymond Chu, 27, were also among the dead.
Rowan Kimsey owned and lived at the property with her daughter, Stella Kimsey, and Parker, her daughter’s boyfriend, cops said.
Two cats and dogs were also found dead on the property. One additional feline was found and taken to a veterinarian for treatment, but ultimately had to be euthanized “due to the extent of its injuries,” police added.
Authorities have not yet released details on how the five people or the slew of animals were killed. A motive in the slayings remains unclear.
The gruesome scene was uncovered when firefighters responded to a report of a vehicle fire at the 15-acre property, which included a home, farmland, and thick expanses of trees, according to police and local outlet KGW8.
“We do have a deceased victim up here we’re gonna need law enforcement,” a firefighter said in dispatch audio obtained by the outlet.
“I need a police unit or a sheriff’s office unit code for you to see just in case we have two victims here,” the dispatch audio said.
“This is some suspicious circumstances certainly so we’re gonna … just take our hoses and get out of here and let the sheriff’s office clear this. Then we’ll return,” the audio continued.
After detectives arrived at the quintuple homicide scene, they tracked Parker’s vehicle to behind a Safeway store in Enumclaw, where the killer was found dead of an apparent suicide.
Enumclaw Police Chief Tim Floyd said detectives discovered that Parker’s cell phone had pinged in the small city 50 miles southwest of Seattle, the outlet reported.
“They called us and said, ‘We have a cell phone ping in your city,’ here’s the plate and the car that you’re looking for,’” Floyd said.
“So we go to the flock system, we put the plate in, we could see that he’s hit a couple of our cameras and the last hit was him coming into the city and he had not left so we had a good indication that he was still here.”
Washington County Detective Shannon Wilde said in a press conference on Sunday that investigators do not believe that the killings were a “random act.”
Sheriff Caprice Massey added that the crime scene was one of the most “complex” she’s encountered in her career.
“In my 22 years here, I have not been a part of or witnessed a scene quite this complex involving this type of an investigation,” Massey told reporters on Sunday.
“I recognize that this incident is deeply concerning to our community. Our investigators are working to determine what happened, and we have dedicated every available resource to this case,” Massey said.
In a statement, Forest Grove Fire and Rescue described the slain victims as “our friends and our neighbors.”
“Tragedies like our community experienced over the weekend are incredibly sad, while also being so hard on our hearts and souls. Even though many of you did not know the vibrant lives so needlessly lost, some of you most certainly did,” the department wrote on Facebook.
“While others still undoubtedly moved past them in a local grocery store, restaurant, or our otherwise normal day to day lives. These were our friends, and our neighbors, and they too called this beautiful place home.”
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