The bodies of a man and three young children were discovered in a pond in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Tuesday. A vehicle containing the bodies of the children was pulled from the pond, according to the Indianapolis Metro Police Department (IMPD).
The Marion County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday confirmed the deceased to be the Moorman family, who had been missing since July 6. The deceased are Kyle Moorman and his three children Kyran, 1, Kyannah, 2, and Kyle Moorman II, 5, said Assistant Chief Chris Bailey.
“We want to extend our condolences to the family and friends hurting tonight knowing their loved ones are no longer with us,” he said.
There are many questions about the circumstances of the deaths, Bailey said, as there is not a clear reason for how the deaths occurred.
“We don’t know why and we don’t know how,” said the officer.
Last Wednesday, after Moorman said he drove to his brother’s house to fish, the family disappeared. IMPD said they were last seen in the 1000 block of S Sherman Drive on Indianapolis’s east side at around 11 p.m. Mariah Moorman, Kyle Moorman’s sister, said his phone last pinged around 12:40 a.m., a few hours after he was last spotted.
“As far as we know, he was coming out here to go fishing,” Mariah said. “That’s what he told my sister. It’s not odd. He does it all the time. They go night fishing a lot.”
In an attempt to find Kyle Moorman and his children earlier Tuesday, Mariah and family offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who was able to find their location. For many days, friends and family searched the pond and the surrounding area near the intersection of Bluff Road and West Troy Avenue.
Selina Delarosa and Mike Jones of Greenwood, regular fishers of the White River in the area, assisted the search. They brought a boat and searched the pond waters for the family. Other people searched the bottom of the pond and walked around the pond using a magnet.
A family member of Kyle Moorman’s mother, William Muse, said on Tuesday that he and others were frustrated that police didn’t search the pond sooner. “They should have at least tried,” said Muse. In response, Bailey said more information about the deaths will be released following the investigation’s development.
The investigators “follow up multiple leads. They follow their processes, they follow their procedures,” Bailey said. “As we piece this all together we’ll know more about the why’s and how’s that led us here tonight and other locations we’ve been at as we investigated,” he added.
“This is heartbreaking for everyone involved,” remarked Bailey. “Regardless of circumstances, we know a man and three young kids are dead tonight. … We all need to support the family and wrap our arms around them tonight and the days that are to come as they grieve this loss.”
