In September of 2014, a Utah teen returned to his home to find his parents and three siblings, ages 11, 12, and 14 overdosed in a locked bedroom of their Springville home. All five were tucked into covers in and around their parents bed. The parents had a notebook that they’ve been writing in, a ‘to-do list’ had been scribbled on the pages. This list appeared as if the parents were getting ready to go on vacation. With items like ‘feed the pets’ and ‘find someone to watch over the house’ were written. It appeared to be a murder-suicide, but there was no suicide note or any prior indication that they would do this, no explanation. Police could not figure out why two parents would kill themselves and three of their four children.
According to family members and an police investigation, the parents were driven by a belief that the apocalypse was coming and wanted to escape the evil.
Investigators found letters written by Kristi Strack, the mother, to one of the states most infamous convicted killer, Dan Lafferty, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted in the 1984 fatal stabbing of his sister-in-law and her 1 year old daughter. During trial Dan said he did it in the name of God. Kristi and her husband became friends with him and even visited him in prison.
Police found cups with liquid inside next to each of the bodies and a child’s sand bucket behind a door with traces of the same combination of methadone and cold medication that was found in their systems.
Police believe that Benjamin Strack died last because he was the only member of the family who wasn’t underneath bed covers.