A 36-year-old mother walked into a Missouri police department Tuesday morning and told officers there “that she had shot one of her children and drowned another.”
Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak told reporters that the first victim, a 9-year-old girl, was outside in the woman’s car. Officers found the second victim, a 2-year-old boy, in a pond near the entrance to the Holiday Inn Timber Creek Resort.
Marshak said investigators were looking at a home in neighboring St. Francois County where they believe the woman shot the girl.
“We believe the 9-year-old was shot in St. Francois County earlier, prior to the drowning,” he said.
The resort where the toddler was found is located between St. Francois County and the police department in Festus, a St. Louis suburb, where the woman turned herself in.
Marshak said investigators had initially been concerned about the well-being of a third child, but that child was found safe and unharmed.
The sheriff did not release the name of the suspect or the victims, saying investigators were still doing notifications. He declined to speculate on a motive for the slayings and said that preliminary information indicated the children were alive and well Monday night and first thing Tuesday morning.
