Kids alone for days, parents dead in locked room

Mon Jan 5, 2009 10:28 AM EST

MADRAS — A couple who hadn't been seen for three days were found dead in their locked bedroom with their crying 9-month-old daughter in an apparent murder-suicide. Three older children had been left out on their own.

The bodies of Hannah Crowe and Julian Wallulatum were discovered Saturday after the older children asked a neighbor to help.

Crowe, 26, and Wallulatum, 21, had both been shot, said police Sgt. Dennis Schneider.

A preliminary investigation showed it "appears to be a murder-suicide resulting from a domestic dispute," Detective Tanner Stanfill said in a statement. The shooting probably occurred Thursday, he said.

The statement listed Crowe as the victim.

The three older children had been playing outside Thursday and Friday so nothing seemed wrong, said neighbor Andrew Smith.

But on Saturday, the kids knocked on his door, led by the oldest, an 8-year-old boy, Smith said.

"The oldest one said 'I can't wake my mom up. I can't wake my mom and dad up, 'cause I think they're still passed out, but I can see blood on my mom's leg, under the door,'" Smith told KTVZ-TV of Bend.

Smith said he went to the couple's apartment, smelled a foul odor and heard the couple's baby crying. He kicked down the locked bedroom door and found them dead in the same clothes they were wearing New Year's Eve.

The baby was beside them; her shirt stained with their blood.

"My knees, they wobbled," Smith said. "It just took it out of me. I almost fainted."

"How could they leave the babies?" asked neighbor Ashley Barker. "If something was going on, an argument, why didn't they send them to the neighbors?"

Smith said the state Department of Human Services took the baby into protective custody, and the other children were with relatives.

Madras is a town of just over 6,000 people, about 100 miles southeast of Portland.

___

Information from: KTVZ-TV, http://www.ktvz.com/

(This version CORRECTS that the 8-year-old is a boy, not a girl.)

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{"commentId":4669730,"authorDomain":"jameseg"}

jameseg

What a horrible thing! I feel for those children.

Perhaps it was a murder/suicide? Why couldn't that couple have sought help from someone somewhere with whatever difficulties they faced? There are suicide prevention phone numbers, help agencies, religious groups, etc., available.

{"commentId":4669730,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"jameseg"}

7 votes

#1 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 11:49 AM EST

{"commentId":4670059,"authorDomain":"seward"}

Sandie Seward

Poor Babies. What a shock for that neighbour who found them, too.

{"commentId":4670059,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"seward"}

9 votes

#2 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 12:14 PM EST

{"commentId":4671568,"authorDomain":"titaniumspork"}

TitaniumSpork

Wow.. what a really sad sad situation. Poor children.

{"commentId":4671568,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"titaniumspork"}

6 votes

#3 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 1:49 PM EST

{"commentId":4671652,"authorDomain":"mysticchick"}

Mystic Chick

What the hell?!

{"commentId":4671652,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"mysticchick"}

5 votes

#4 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 1:55 PM EST

{"commentId":4672630,"authorDomain":"MightyMait"}

MightyMait

Truly sad. It's a good thing there aren't any guns in our household. Who knows if I might be capable of something like this in a moment of despair, anger, and frustration?

{"commentId":4672630,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"MightyMait"}

4 votes

#5 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 3:03 PM EST

{"commentId":4673105,"authorDomain":"snowan1996"}

nancypaints

if you know of anyone, who is young, with children, money troubles, who have any signs of difficulty, and who may even own a gun, please let them know that you are there to help them in any way, shape or form.

{"commentId":4673105,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"snowan1996"}

3 votes

#6 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 3:33 PM EST

{"commentId":4674405,"authorDomain":"Jewelibob"}

Jewelibob

It breaks my heart that those poor kids were alone for so long. I really hope the baby is going to be okay after being without food for so long. The kids were really smart to go to a neighbor for help. I'm sure the neighbor was in total shock. I really wish that the parents could have gotten help, but obviously weren't able to think clearly enough to do so.

{"commentId":4674405,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"Jewelibob"}

4 votes

#7 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 4:56 PM EST

{"commentId":4676782,"authorDomain":"kamikazemom"}

lizzie-798529

I'm glad killer did not take situation out on kids and shoot them also.

{"commentId":4676782,"threadId":"461054","contentId":"2275507","authorDomain":"kamikazemom"}

4 votes

#8 - Mon Jan 5, 2009 7:52 PM EST

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"461054","isPrivate":false}

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Kids alone for days, parents dead in locked room

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