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Officials identify family mysteriously found dead in Utah home

Posted at 4:06 PM, Sep 28, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-29 15:51:01-04

SPRINGVILLE, Utah - Police are investigating after a Springville family of five was found dead inside their home Saturday.

Neighbors spoke to Fox 13 Sunday about the incident.

"It was especially sad to hear that it was the whole family,” Neighbor Ame Patton said.

Neighbors who live around the home in the area of 1000 East 900 South in Springville said news of the family's death is tragic.

"It was sad, 'cause anytime there's any death you know that's a hard thing for the family or any survivors of the family,” Patton said.

Springville police said a relative discovered the five bodies Saturday evening around 8 p.m.

The relative went to the home to check on the family after not hearing from them.

"They had talked to them earlier [Saturday], the family been in touch but nobody had heard from them, so they stopped by and that's when they found them,” Springville Police Lt. Dave Caron said.

The family members were later identified by police as 37-year-old Benjamin Strack, 36-year-old Kristi Strack, 14-year-old Benson Strack, 12-year-old Emery Strack and 11-year-old Zion Strack.

KSTU

The couple and their children were found by another son of Benjamin and Kristi Strack, according to the press release.

"We looked into the possibility it could have been carbon monoxide but we just don't know at this point,” Caron said.

The family was found in a residence that is part of a duplex.

An individual who lives in the other portion of the structure spoke to FOX 13 News but did not wish to appear on camera.

They said police checked their residence for carbon monoxide, since they share a wall with the unit where the family was found.

They said police did not find elevated levels of CO.

That neighbor also said police removed several living pets from the deceased family’s residence.

A press release issued later Sunday stated, "Preliminary autopsy results for the family of five who were found dead in their home have ruled out any sort of violent assault...The Medical Examiner has indicated that the next step is to continue the investigation through analysis of blood samples to determine what may have caused the deaths."

Neighbors describe the area as a pretty social neighborhood, where everyone knows everyone else.

But they said this family tended to keep to themselves.

"We really didn't know them and we never saw them,” Patton said. “Everyone else on the block we know, even if it's just by the face and the car and we wave or something. So it's a very close-knit neighborhood to where not knowing them is a little different.”

Autopsies are being performed to determine just what happened to the family but police said it may be weeks before we know the answer.

“Before you can get all of the results, all of the chemical tests, the blood work and that stuff at the results from the lab back,” Caron said.

Facebook: A memorial page for the family was set up on Facebook here.