“We will dig into some of the background motives to try to get answers of what happened leading up to the incident.”
Captain Jacob Sparks with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s department says 47-year-old Kristopher Karolkeiwicz did not leave a suicide note but there were documents in the house that could help explain why he killed his wife Amanda, their six children and himself;
“I don’t have any specific note that was left. There was a lot of documentation we seized from the scene and processing that will take a while.”
Grand Haven Township firefighters responding to reports of smoke in the home on Riverside Trail discovered the 8 bodies Friday morning.
“The cause of death for all the subjects was ruled gunshot wounds. For Amanda and the six children was ruled homicide. Kristopher was ruled suicide.”
Investigators believe Kristopher started smoky fires at several spots in the house. That killed the family pets.
“Perished due to fire or smoke inhalation. There were several dogs and at least one cat.”
Amanda Krolkeiwicz was a substitute elementary school teacher. Until last month Kristopher was a vice president at the American Heart Association. The six children ages 5 to 15 attended Grand Haven public schools. To his knowledge Captain Sparks says police were never called to the home before.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy we many never completely understand. We are trying to get answers for the family trying to get answers for the community.”
