The bodies of six friends were found scattered through a blood-spattered house Friday in what the county sheriff called “the worst thing that we’ve ever seen.”
The four men and two women were discovered dead just after dawn when one of the victims failed to show up for the morning shift at a nearby Burger King restaurant, where five of the them worked.
It was the worse mass killing in central Florida in more than a decade, and police continued to look for a suspect.
“I don’t believe this was a random act by any means. I strongly believe these people knew who their assailants were,” Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said, adding that it was “very, very possible” that more than one person was involved.
Johnson said the crime scene displayed “an extreme level of violence” and there was evidence of a struggle. A dog also was found dead in the home, he said.
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“It’s a very, very brutal crime scene,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to describe what went on in that house.”
Johnson would not identify the victims, say how they were killed or speculate on a motive. But investigators were known to be looking into a series of disturbances and acts of vandalism that preceded the killings.
Detectives have identified what he called “persons of interest” in the investigation, Johnson said, but he added, “We have no one I would call an absolute suspect at this time.”
Four of the six bodies were removed from the home Friday evening. One victim was identified Friday night, the sheriff said, but identifying the others might require dental or fingerprint comparisons. Autopsies were scheduled for this weekend.
Friday was an agonizing day for the families and friends of those who lived in the house. Steve Nathan, waiting behind the crime-scene tape set up by police, said his 19-year-old daughter, Michelle, was among the victims.
Neighbors said they knew little about the group of young people–who investigators said ranged in age from 18 to their early 30s–who started renting the three-bedroom home in northeast Deltona a few months ago. It was not clear how many of the victims lived in the house.
The Burger King where five of the victims worked closed Friday. Several employees huddled in the restaurant through much of the day. Some left the building in tears and without commenting to reporters.