San Antonio murder suicide: Jared Esquibel Harless Fort Sam GI kills wife, 4 children then self as authorities find family of six dead from carbon monoxide in garage. Motive unknown.
A murder-suicide investigation has been launched after a family of six were found dead in an SUV in their garage in San Antonio from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after Texas police found a ‘cryptic note’ and chemical odor at their home.
Jared Esquibel Harless, 38, his 36-year-old wife, four children and two cats were found dead at the home, Thursday morning. The incident follows the husband recently having been assigned to the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
Esquibel Harless is a US Army soldier assigned to the 470th Military Intelligence Brigade at Joint Base San Antonio, news4sanantonio reports.
Police to date only released the ages of the wife and children – two boys aged four and 11-months and two girls three and one.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus during aThursday press conference said the smell of carbon dioxide was so strong when officers arrived that it ‘kind of blew everybody back out the door.’
🚨This is the home where a family of 6 was found dead
🚨They were in an SUV in their garage
🚔Officers overwhelmed by heavy fumes
✉️A note said there were bodies inside and not to enter
🎥We’re LIVE on @KABBFOX29 and @News4SA w/ the details
📸: @ulysses_romero pic.twitter.com/YJVA3inZxk— Emily Olson (@EmilyOlsonTV) June 5, 2020
‘Bodies or people inside, do not enter. The animals are in the freezer.’
He said police had gone to the house for a welfare check requested by the husband’s employer, who had been unable to reach him.
‘They were OK yesterday because he checked in with his work,’ McManus said. ‘So it happened sometime overnight.’
McManus said on the front door of the home was a ‘cryptic note’ with military jargon, A member of the military translated it to: ‘Bodies or people inside, do not enter. The animals are in the freezer.’
The chief said the note also hinted at booby traps.
‘Based on the note that we received, we were very cautious about going in, and we were trying to find out what was in there before we made entry,’ the chief said.
When they entered, the cops were overcome by a heavy, noxious odor which turned out to be carbon monoxide.
Police feared potentially coming across explosives and a booby tripped up home, having sent in robots. None were found.
6 members of a military family, including 4 young children, were found dead in their car in the family’s garage in San Antonio, apparently after suffering from intentional carbon monoxide poisoning, the police said https://t.co/EHx14oIMy1
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 5, 2020
‘They kept to themselves more than usual.’
Along with all six bodies found in the SUV, two cats were also found dead in the front seat of the vehicle.
‘It’s the whole picture. The adults, the children, the pets,’ McManus said. ‘Saying it’s not pretty – there’s no words to describe that.’
McManus said there was evidence ‘it was not an accident’ and did not suggest that anyone outside the family was involved.
McManus said the family moved into the house in January.
A next-door neighbor described Harless and his family as reclusive, rarely leaving the 2,928-square-foot house at 106 Red Willow.
‘They kept to themselves more than usual. They’d been here since January and the husband waved to me just once, outside. That was it. I mean, they were always locked up in the house,’ said Jorge Canavati Jr., a 62-year-old consultant who has lived in the neighborhood 15 years.
‘The only time he would come out or I would see him out or we heard him out was when the neighborhood kids would be on the cul-de-sac playing ball, and their ball would hit his garage door and he would come out furious, just yell at them,’ he said.
Adding, ‘And that was the only time we would see him. I think he went out once to mow the lawn or something. That was it. It was very, very weird.’
Joint Base San Antonio issued a statement on Friday confirming the incident.
‘Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased. Additional information will be released pending next of kin notification. The case is currently under investigation by the San Antonio Police Department and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.’
No known motive for the apparent murder suicide was made public.
