Cops: Utah Family's Bodies Were Posed After Death

Stracks appear to have been poisoned
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2014 12:19 AM CDT
Updated Oct 30, 2014 4:00 AM CDT
Cops: Utah Family's Deaths 'Not Accidental or Natural'
This Sept. 28, 2014, photo shows the Springville, Utah, home where family members were found dead.   (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Police believe the deaths of five members of a Utah family last month were "not accidental or natural in any way," according to newly released documents. Benjamin and Kristi Strack, their sons Benson, 14, and Zion, 11, and their 12-year-old daughter Emery were found dead in their Springville home on Sept. 27, and police suspect they were poisoned, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. A search warrant states that all five were found dead in the home's master bedroom with cups of red liquid near their bodies; Kristi Strack had red liquid coming from her mouth. The adults were in the bed, the children were lying around it with bedding covering all but their heads, and "it would appear somebody had to position the bodies after they were deceased," officers wrote.

The horrific scene was found by Kristi Strack's mother and 18-year-old son, who called his grandmother after finding the bedroom locked. When firefighters warned the mother that there could be a carbon monoxide leak, she replied "there was no carbon monoxide leak, and that she knew her family," saying she "couldn't believe 'she' would do this to the kids," warrants state; though officers pressed her, she didn't elaborate. In a trash bag, officers found nearly 20 empty boxes and blister packs of cold and flu medication. A bag of marijuana, pill bottles, a pitcher of red juice, and empty bottles of liquid methadone from a drug treatment clinic were also found in the home, reports the Deseret News. At a vigil earlier this month, Benjamin's brother said they were still waiting on toxicology results, but noted that even when the "answers come ... we won't know everything." Click for more on the case. (More Utah stories.)

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