Gage Park Mass Murder Victims Identified
(CBS) -- Relatives have confirmed the six people killed in a Gage Park home on Thursday were three generations of the same family.
Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy also clarified that there were four adults and two children killed, after police earlier said the victims were five adults and one child. Police said the victims were two boys – ages 10 and 13 – two men, and two women.
The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled all six deaths homicides.
A relative confirmed the victims are Noe Martinez Sr. and his wife, Rosaura Hernandez, both in their 60s; their son Noe Martinez Jr., who was in his 40s; their daughter Maria Herminia Martinez, who was in her 30s; and the daughter's two sons, 10-year-old Alexis and 13-year-old Leonardo.
Maria Herminia Martinez suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The other five died of "sharp and blunt force injuries," the ME's office said in a statement.
Noe Martinez Sr. and the two children died of stab wounds, the ME said. Rosaura Henandez and Noe Martinez Jr. were stabbed and also suffered "blunt force" injuries.
None of the deaths were ruled a suicide. Police say there are no suspects in custody.
Surviving relatives have set up a GoFundMe page to help the family's survivors raise money, in hopes of sending their bodies back to Mexico to be buried. As of Friday morning, more than $2,800 had been raised.
The victims were found dead Thursday inside a home in the 5700 block of South California Avenue, after police were called to conduct a well-being check. Roy said police were contacted by a co-worker of one of the victims, who became concerned after that person had not been at work for several days.
Roy said the house was locked when police arrived, and when officers looked through windows, they saw a body inside, so they forced their way inside, and found five other people dead inside. He would not say where in the house the victims were found.
"Despite some rumors and reports to the contrary yesterday afternoon … the victims were not bound, and there did not appear to be any ransacking of the house," Roy said.
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The chief declined to comment on any evidence that might have been recovered at the scene, including whether a murder weapon was found, but he said there were no signs of gunfire in the house.
"This is a complex investigation. We are working meticulously, which means we take our time," Roy said. "We take our time, but it's still with a sense of urgency, to make sure that we haven't missed anything that's going to lead to the solution of this case."
Roy said it is "way too early" to know if one specific person in the home was targeted, and the others were killed because they were witnesses.
"That would be conjecture," he said.
Investigators so far have declined to say if the killer might have been among the dead, or if a suspect was still at large, but Roy said police believe there is no threat to the public.
"Given the nature of the scene, the fact that the doors were locked, the house was not disheveled, and other factors, it's pretty much confined to the home, which leads us in that direction," he said.
Roy said all of the victims suffered blunt trauma, but he declined to comment on reports that at least one of the victims was stabbed multiple times.
"That's something that's under investigation by the M.E.'s office. The medical examiner is doing autopsies on the bodies this morning. That's within the medical examiner's area of responsibility, and I'll defer questions on that to him," Roy said.
Police have talked to several family members, including a relative who was coming in from Texas on Friday to talk to investigators.
