Four found dead in Grand Forks home, police ask for public's help
Updated: 8:10 p.m. | Posted: 11:19 a.m.
Grand Forks police are investigating the deaths of four people — a parent and three school-age children — who were found in a home in the city on Thursday morning.
The Grand Forks Police Department said an officer did a welfare check at a home in the 1000 block of South 12th Street at the request of an elementary school administrator.
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The officer saw what appeared to be a body in the home and forced entry. A police spokesman said four bodies were found in the home.
The deceased were later identified by police as Grand Forks residents Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14, and Astra Volk, 35, who is the biological mother of the three children.
All four victims died of apparent gunshot wounds and a handgun was recovered at the scene, according to a police statement released Thursday evening.
There was no one in custody by Thursday evening and no suspects are being sought at this time, the incident remains under investigation.
The Grand Forks School District said in a statement that they were told a parent and three students were those found in the home. District officials said they were working with the schools involved to provide support and counseling, and that they couldn't provide any additional information.
Police said there was no indication of an ongoing threat to the public, and preliminary indications suggest the incident was confined to the home where the victims were found.
Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where the four were found, said a woman and three children had moved into the house just a couple months ago.
"Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness," she said, though it was not immediately clear that the mother was the parent found inside the home.
Stevens said the house "sat empty forever" until it was recently renovated, and the woman was living there as a renter. Stevens said she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours, and the long winter kept the kids indoors.
"This is scary," Stevens said. "Now I want to watch out for my neighbors and make sure they're OK."
Stevens and others described the neighborhood as a safe, quiet residential area. The house where the family was found was surrounded by crime tape on Thursday. The garage door was more than halfway opened, and a pink child's bicycle was overturned in the yard.
Authorities are asking that anyone with information regarding this incident contact Grand Forks police at 701-787-8000 or via the Grand Forks Police Department's Facebook or website.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.