ST. PAUL, Minn. — The bodies of three young children and their mother were found Friday night and Saturday morning at a Vadnais Heights lake. They were initially missing in what the Ramsey County sheriff characterized as an apparent murder-suicide.
The body of a boy was pulled from Vadnais Lake on Friday evening, and the body of another boy was found after midnight Saturday. Authorities continued to search and found the body of a girl and their mother on Saturday morning. All three children were younger than 6 years, authorities said.
“Horrible facts developing,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher posted on his Facebook page shortly before a news conference at Vadnais-Snail Lakes Regional Park in Vadnais Heights.
The tragedy began hours earlier and in a different north metro suburb.
“At 10:30 this morning, Maplewood police responded to a report of a suicide in the 1300 block of Pearson,” Maplewood police Lt. Joe Steiner said at the Friday night news conference at Sucker Lake Road and Vadnais Boulevard. “When they arrived, they found a deceased adult male … in relation to that investigation, Maplewood police responded to this location on information of a potential murder-suicide. At this time, there’s an active rescue and recovery operation going on.”
The woman who was found in the lake is believed to be the wife of the deceased man, authorities said.
An investigation determined that she had left with her three children, and Maplewood police tried to contact her and locate her during the day, Fletcher said. Information developed that her car was near Lake Vadnais, and it was later found parked between the two major lobes of the 600-acre lake.
Some two dozen relatives and friends of the family huddled near the lake as authorities — including a State Patrol helicopter, the sheriff’s office and its dive team, dogs, police and fire crews in boats, and others — continued the search on the lake and the surrounding land. The water search was initially focusing on the shallower west half of the lake. The east half is far deeper, up to 50 feet in spots.
“Obviously, a horrible set of facts appears to be developing,” Fletcher said during the news conference. “We do not know for certainty the condition of all three children, but we have recovered one child here in the lake. Our water patrol and dive team is actively searching for the other two. We do not know yet where their mother is, but we’re treating this as a potential triple homicide here at Lake Vadnais.…
“I will tell you that a number of resources are here,” said Fletcher, who is also a former mayor of Vadnais Heights. “We’re going to continue to look for the other two children well into the dark … there is nothing more tragic than the loss of young children. … If you’re wondering why we suspect the children are here, the children’s shoes were here.”
Late Friday night, as the search continued, relatives and friends of the Hmong family started a small fire, which one man said was an appeal to the spirits to help them find the bodies.
For most people, “even imagining this is going to be horrific just to think about,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher recalled some similar situations in the past, including when Naomi Gaines threw her 14-month-old twin sons off the Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul on July 4, 2003. One drowned and one survived. Gaines also jumped into the Mississippi River but survived.
And on Sept. 3, 1998, Khoua Her killed her six children, ages 5 to 11, in their residence in St. Paul’s McDonough Homes. She survived a suicide attempt in what remains the worst mass murder in St. Paul’s recorded history.
“The mental health aspect of people … it’s just tough to get your mind wrapped around how someone does that,” Fletcher said during “Live on Patrol,” his livestreamed patrol Friday night with Deputy Pat Scott.
“If you’re mentally healthy, it’s unimaginable,” Scott said.
Scott said it also “takes a toll on those who respond.”
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