ST. PAUL
Investigators believe a 35-year-old Woodbury, Minn., man vacationing at the Grand Canyon with his children shot them before lighting their motor home on fire and turning the gun on himself.
The National Park Service on Thursday identified the three bodies found inside the charred RV at the Grand Canyon National Park. They released the name of the father, Anthony DeHaven.
Although authorities did not release the identities of the children, the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district said earlier they were two students: Jersey DeHaven, 5, a kindergartner, and her brother, Jace DeHaven, 11, a sixth-grader.
The family lived at a Woodbury townhome off Radio Drive, a few miles from the Skyway Community School in Oakdale, Minn.
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Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Shannan Marcak said Thursday that the investigation of the case is continuing. Marcak declined to say what led investigators to believe the incident was a murder-suicide.
Firefighters in Arizona responded to a report Oct. 3 of smoke in the RV's cab and found the vehicle engulfed in flames.
The remains of DeHaven and the two children were found inside.
The RV was in a parking area along the most-traveled road into the Grand Canyon's popular South Rim near a sign where tourists often pose for pictures.
The deaths came only weeks after a double murder-suicide in Oakdale took the lives of the parents of two children who also attended Skyview.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
