Father charged in Wis. daughters' deaths

July 12, 2012 1:01 PM

This photo provided by the St. Croix, Wis., County Sheriff's Office shows Aaron Schaffhausen who was under arrest Wednesday, July 11, 2012, and charged with three counts of first degree intentional homicide, authorities said. Police found his three young daughters dead Tuesday in a house in River Falls, Wis., that officers said smelled of gas. Court record show that Shaffhausen and his wife divorced last year.
AP Photo/St. Croix County Sheriff's Office

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A North Dakota man was charged Thursday with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of his three young daughters in northwestern Wisconsin.

Police discovered the bodies of 11-year-old Amara Schaffhausen, 8-year-old Sophie Schaffhausen and 5-year-old Cecilia Schaffhausen in the home they shared with their mother in River Falls on Tuesday.

Authorities have not said how the girls were killed, but when police entered the home they noted the first-floor gas fireplace was on and the basement smelled of a flammable liquid they have yet to identify.

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Investigators said their father, 34-year-old Aaron Schaffhausen of Minot, unexpectedly contacted the girls' mother - his ex-wife - on Tuesday and asked for an unplanned visit with the children. The mother, who wasn't home, agreed and when Schaffhausen showed up at the house the girls' baby sitter left.

Schaffhausen later called the mother, Jessica Schaffhausen, and told her he had hurt the girls. She called police en route to the house.

No one was home when police arrived at the house and discovered the bodies. Schaffhausen turned himself in late Tuesday afternoon and was being held at St. Croix County jail.

River Falls memorial — A woman and children pay their respects at a memorial at Greenwood Elementary School to Amara, Sophie and Celia Schaffhausen as investigators continued their investigation Wednesday, July 11, 2012 in River Falls, Wis. Police found the girls dead in their mother's River Falls house on Tuesday. The girls' father, Aaron Schaffhausen, was arrested after turning himself in to police. The two older girls attended the school and Ceciia would have started there in the fall.
AP Photo/Jim Mone

His initial court appearance was set for Thursday afternoon.

An announcement in The (Springfield, Ill.) State Journal-Register shows Aaron Schaffhausen and Jessica Schaffhausen married in 2000. Court records show they divorced in January.

River Falls Police Chief Roger Leque has said records show what the chief called "an harassment incident" at the house in March 2012 in which the father threatened to harm at least one of the girls. But the chief said police were unaware of any restraining or protection orders.

The house stands in a newer subdivision on the east side of River Falls, a city of 15,000 people about 30 miles east of the Twin Cities.

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