Lake County man, woman and a girl, 3, found dead in apparent murder-suicide

A man, a woman and a 3-year-old girl were found shot to death Tuesday evening inside a Lake County home in what authorities said appeared to be a double murder-suicide.

The man, 35, and the woman, whose age was not given, as well as the girl, were found by sheriff’s deputies inside a home in the Whispering Pines community north of Middletown.

All had sustained gunshot wounds that appeared to be from a shotgun, and the man’s appeared to be self-inflicted, Sheriff Brian Martin said Tuesday night in a written statement.

Identities of all three people were withheld pending notification of family members. Martin would not say whether the people were related. All three are believed to have been shot and died from their injuries on Tuesday, he said.

The home where the bodies were discovered is in the 17000 block of Pine View Drive. Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home about 5:40 p.m., according to Martin. He said it was too early in the investigation to say whether the home belonged to any of the deceased.

A neighbor called authorities to the area Tuesday, he said. The sheriff did not elaborate on the identity of the witness or say how that person knew of the shooting.

Detectives and other authorities with the county’s Major Crimes Unit were called to the scene Tuesday night and were awaiting approval of a search warrant to continue conducting an investigation into the deaths.

Anyone with information relating to this investigation is asked to contact Detective Sgt. John Gregore at 707-262-4238.