Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon announced at 6:30 pm Sunday that the suspect in a ‘complex homicide’ that left 5 people dead in the county had been found dead in Enumclaw, Washington.
In a press release, Sheriff’s Office detectives identified 36-year-old Benjamin Charles Parker as the suspect.
The office said they determined Parker may have been in Enumclaw, Washington, Sunday afternoon. The Enumclaw Police Department then located his car.
He was found dead in the car behind the Enumclaw Safeway Sunday evening. Deputies say they believe he died by suicide.
A deputy with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO 7 that, along with the remains of 5 people found at the property, two dogs and 2 cats were also found dead. Another cat was found injured and taken to a nearby animal hospital.
This is a developing story; more information will be provided as it becomes available.
According to a statement by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were first called to the property in an unincorporated rural area outside of Forest Grove to help the Forest Grove Fire Department with a car fire after the department recovered human remains at the scene.
In a press conference Sunday afternoon, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office announced the case was being investigated as a “quintuple homicide.”
The office says they do not believe this was a random act of violence, and both the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Enumclaw Police Department have stressed that they do not think there is any threat to the public.
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