Two parents and their teenage children have been found dead in the affluent Perth suburb of Mosman Park in a suspected murder-suicide, Western Australian police say.
At 8.15am on Friday, emergency services received a distressed call from a person known to the family who had gone to the home on Mott Close, in the city’s south-west.
Police arrived at the home to find the bodies of two adults, a man aged 50 and a woman aged 49, and two boys aged 14 and 16. A cat and two dogs were also found dead at the double-storey house.
“Although this investigation is in its infancy, police are investigating this matter as a murder-suicide,” homicide detective Jessica Securo said.
“It is believed these persons are known to each other and are part of the family unit.”
Securo said it did not appear to be a “violent incident”, saying no weapon appeared to have been used.
“The family have no reported family violence matters with police,” Securo said.
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Securo added that both children had “significant health challenges” and had been in contact with care services. She declined to comment further about these health concerns for privacy reasons.
At least one of the boys attended Christ Church grammar school, one of Perth’s top private boys’ schools.
Securo said the deaths were being treated as a murder-suicide because a note had been found at the house.
“Yes, there was a note left at the premises although I’m not about to go into the content of that letter, it will form part of our investigation,” she said.
Police will investigate whether the health challenges faced by the children were a factor in their murders.
“That will form part of our investigation. We will look at this holistically to see what led to this incident and go from there,” Securo said.
Police were piecing together the timeline of events, she said. The family was found after a person arrived at the home for an appointment on Friday morning, but it was unclear when the family members were last seen alive.
“What will form part of our investigation is – did this incident happen this morning? Did it happen last night? How long have those persons been in that house?”
Securo said the bodies of the family members were not found together, but all of them were inside the property.
“I can’t go into those details as to their exact location. However, I will say that they weren’t in the same location,” she said.
Late into the afternoon, police remained at the scene moving between the house and a large forensic tent positioned on the front driveway.
With the small cul-de-sac closed off to the public, residents gathered on footpaths nearby.
The multimillion-dollar home sits in Perth’s golden triangle, between the beach and the river, on a quiet, dead-end street that is close to some of the city’s most elite schools.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he would often see support services attending the house.
“It is a very, very sad thing, but in this case, you know the two teenagers there were non-verbal,” he said.
He described how he would walk his dogs past the property and often see the boys in the swimming pool out the front of their house and he would wave to them as he passed.
Nearby resident Henry Oroworaran said he was saddened to hear of the tragedy and described the community as close-knit and supportive of each other.
“There is a Christmas block party here every year and they’ve done it for the 13 or 14 years.
Oroworaran said that he did not know the family and they didn’t attend the parties, but he would often see support workers coming and going from the home.
One of the boys attended Christ Church Grammar School’s Peter Moyes Centre, which caters for children with autism and learning challenges.
The principal of Christ Church Grammar, Alan Jones, emailed families late this afternoon saying the school’s thoughts and prayers were with the family.
“Out of respect for the families and to allow the police investigation to take its course, we will not be releasing a statement at this point in time,” Jones said.
Murdoch University sociologist Samuel Teague said while the circumstances of this case are still being investigated, these types of tragedies are often the outcome of systems that aren’t working.
“We know that parents of kids with special needs are in need of better resourcing, more support and this needs to come from more established means of community and relational support,” Teague said.
The family were described on social media as a lovely couple and a good family.
A spokesperson for St John Ambulance WA said it sent five crews to the house on Friday morning just before 8.30am on priority 1 conditions, which reflect potentially life-threatening situations.
Securo described it as a “confronting” and “highly distressing” scene.
“The officers are understandably in shock after being confronted with such an incident like this,” she said.
“It’s not often that our officers come across such a tragic event with this many persons deceased.
“That’s why we employ a health and welfare [officer] and our police chaplain to attend the scene as soon as possible, speak to the officers, wrap our arms around them and make sure they are OK.”
Kate Chaney, the federal MP for Curtin, which includes Mosman Park, said in a statement that the suspected murder-suicide was “shocking and devastating for our community”.
“My thoughts go out to the friends and relatives of this family, as well as the first responders, and the neighbours and local community who knew them,” Chaney said.
“This heartbreaking loss of four lives will have lasting effects throughout our community.
“I hope the police investigation will provide more information soon about the circumstances that led to this tragic event. I encourage everyone impacted by this news to hug their loved ones and if needed, reach out to … services for support.”
– with Australian Associated Press
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. The crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.
