Murder-suicide: six people have found dead

Police were investigating a suspected murder-suicide yesterday after the bodies of three adults and three children were found at a sprawling ranch. Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle told reporters that all of the victims apparently died of &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/hotspots/2002/01/04/24928.html ' target=_blank>gunshot wounds to the head.

With the exception of the ranch owner, David McGowan, they were all found in their beds, informs the Washington Times. According to CCN News, Doyle said the other five dead have not yet been identified, but he described them as a boy about 14 years old, two girls about 8 and 10 and two women -- one who appeared to be in her 40s and one in her 60s. Those five individuals were all shot while in their beds, which were otherwise undisturbed, Doyle said.

The sheriff's department received a &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/fun/2001/08/14/12510.html ' target=_blank>911 call at 4:33 a.m. (7:33 a.m. ET). The caller said nothing, deputies said, but there was noise in the background.

"What was heard on the dispatch tape was the phone initially hitting the wall and then a gunshot," Doyle said. "That was all that the dispatcher heard."

McGowan's body was found near the phone, with a handgun also nearby, Doyle said. Two other handguns were also found in the home.

After the call, two cars were dispatched to the 3,400-square-foot home on Devils Ladder Road, which public records show is on 4.5 acres. About 60 investigators were at the scene later in the day.

Doyle said McGowan's body was found downstairs along with the three children; a boy was in one bedroom, the girls in another. The two women were upstairs in one bedroom, he said.