The Associated Press
Posted: 09/17/2009 07:02:51 AM PDT
Updated: 09/17/2009 12:03:02 PM PDT
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.—The deaths of a father and his two children at an apartment may have been a murder-suicide, authorities said Thursday.
Their mother found Jennifer Mulvaney, 7, and Jason Mulvaney, 12, stabbed to death when she went to pick them up from her ex-husband's apartment Wednesday evening, Ventura County sheriff's Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said.
She also found the body of James Mulvaney, 52.
The children had been stabbed several times, Bonfiglio said.
The father's body showed no obvious signs of trauma to indicate the cause of his death. Drugs or asphyxiation have not been ruled out, Bonfiglio said.
Autopsies were planned Thursday.
Detectives were still investigating the killings but no suspects were being sought and the "highest probability" was that Mulvaney killed the children and committed suicide, Bonfiglio said.
He said the Mulvaneys were divorced and had been involved in a child custody case that was "possibly heated," but he did not immediately have any details.
Mulvaney's wife, Julie Mulvaney, filed for divorce in February 2008, according to court records cited by the Ventura County Star.
Records also showed that the father took a "positive parenting" class last December.
Jason Mulvaney attended Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks, where Principal Elly Love told students Thursday morning that the boy was killed by his father.
Counselors and school psychologists were on campus through the day.
Neighbors at The Knolls apartment complex said Mulvaney had lived there for six to eight months and described Mulvaney as a devoted father who always watched his children when they played outside.
"I don't really understand how would you kill your own, you know, somebody that shares your own blood. It's awful," Angelica Kope, holding her baby in her arms, told KABC-TV.
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