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Recently released details surrounding the deaths of a Springville family are starting to line up with their relatives' suspicions.
Springville police suspect foul play in the deaths of Benjamin and Kristi Strack, and their three children, whose bodies were found in the master bedroom of their home last month, covered in bedding and a cup of colored fluid sitting next to each victim.
The details came to light through search warrant affidavits, which "was shocking to our family and unfortunately it begins to confirm our suspicions," the Stracks' relatives said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.
"We are upset about this new information and are struggling as we are forced to relive this horrible tragedy," the statement reads. The relatives said they are working with People Magazine on a longer statement, which they plan to release soon.
The Stracks' lone surviving son, 18-year-old Janson McGee, had been out of the house on Sept. 27 and returned that evening. When he could not open the door to the master bedroom, he called his grandmother, Valerie Sudweeks, who forced the door open to reveal the family's motionless bodies.
Ben and Kristi Strack were in their bed, with their children — 14-year-old Benson, 12-year-old Emery, and 11-year-old Zion — arranged around the bed.
Officers noted that the placement of the bodies suggest someone had to position them after they died, and an officer wrote in an affidavit that "it is probable that these deaths were not accidental or natural in any way."
Sudweeks, who is Kristi Strack's mother, had to be physically removed from the home "due to her emotional state," officers wrote.
When officers told her carbon monoxide may have been leaking into the home, the mother said "there was no carbon monoxide leak, and that she knew her family," police wrote. "[The mother] also said she couldn't believe 'she' would do this to the kids. Officers tried to clarify [the grandmother's] statement, but she only assured them it wasn't a carbon monoxide leak."
A test of the air in the home by firefighters did not find any carbon monoxide. A red liquid substance was coming from Kristi Strack's mouth, police wrote.
Officers found in a trash bag a number of empty containers for medications, including 10 empty boxes of nighttime cold and flu medicine and two empty boxes of "generic benadryl." Police also found empty bottles of liquid methadone, "dispensed from a drug treatment clinic," officers wrote. Some of the empty bottles were labeled with future dates.
Police also found pill bottles, a pitcher of red juice, a purple bucket of yellow liquid, a towel with a red substance on it, empty sleep aid boxes and a baggie of marijuana.
Springville Police Lt. Dave Caron on Thursday said he is declining to comment until the medical examiner's report is finished at the end of November.
"To comment or speculate on the cause or manner of death prior to the results of those autopsies would be unprofessional," according to a Thursday news release from the department. "And minus those reports we have no updates to give on the case or the investigation itself."
Benjamin and Kristi Strack, 37 and 36, respectively, pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of forgery, theft, identity fraud and unlawful possession of credit cards. Benjamin Strack also pleaded guilty to drug paraphernalia charges.
No other serious criminal history appears in the Utah court record.
Benjamin Strack, who worked as a brick mason, was "a very funny and playful dad" with a gentle and compassionate heart, according to the family obituary. Kristi Strack "had an inspiring way of protecting her children," and loved to garden and cook, the obituary adds.
As for their children, Benson was compassionate, an orange-belt in Hapkido, loved Japanese culture and was protective of his younger siblings.
Emery, a sweet and playful girl, loved animals, dance, art and "could run like the wind with her long legs" at track, the obituary reads. She and Zion were inseparable. The family's youngest child was a gentle soul who "lived in his own little world" and excelled at mathematics and computers, "especially when it came to Super Mario Brothers," the obituary adds.
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