The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the deaths of one adult and two minors in what investigators have determined was a double homicide followed by suicide in the Sarasota-Bradenton area of Florida.
A 44-year-old woman, her 14-year-old son, and her 11-year-old daughter were found deceased on Feb. 26, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office press release.
The deceased include Josh James, 14, Emma James, 11, and their mother, 44-year-old Monika Rubacha.
Rubacha’s husband, Richard James, was in South America at the time and called for a welfare check when he was unable to access his family for more than 24 hours.
“It's horrible to even imagine what would have been going through the mind of this mother that led up to this,” Warren said.
The Manatee Homicide Investigation Unit investigated the residence in the 8200 block of Pavia Way in Lakewood Ranch at about 8:30 p.m. last week on Thursday.
Lakewood Ranch is a master-planned gated community that is 15 to 18 miles away from multiple beaches.
Deputies observed circumstances that prompted them to enter the residence where they located the bodies.
“Based on the investigation, detectives determined that the two juvenile victims were killed by their mother in separate rooms of the home before she took her own life,” authorities said. “At this time, there is no evidence to indicate that any other individuals were involved.”
All three sustained traumatic injuries.
"Autopsy results are pending at this time," Warren told NTD in an email. "The investigation remains ongoing."
"It remains difficult to research or recognize homicide-suicide risks and motives because homicide-suicide acts leave no living victim or perpetrator," study author professor Evan Goldstein said in the study summary that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network.
The data also disclosed that children under 18 accounted for 14 percent of those killed, and nearly all of the suicides involved a firearm as the primary weapon.