A Florida father was away on business when he learned his wife had killed their two children, then took her own life in what authorities are calling an “unimaginable” tragedy.
The bodies of 44-year-old Monika Rubacha, her son Josh, 14, and daughter Emma, 11, were discovered inside their Lakewood Ranch home the morning of Feb. 26 after authorities had received a request for a welfare check by the children’s father, according to a statement from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office provided to Oxygen.com.
After arriving at the home, deputies observed undisclosed “circumstances” at the home that led them to enter the house. Inside, they found Rubacha and her two minor children dead. All three had sustained “traumatic injuries,” authorities said.
“Based on the investigation, detectives determined that the two juvenile victims were killed by their mother in separate rooms of the home before she took her own life,” the sheriff’s office said. “At this time, there is no evidence to indicate that any other individuals were involved.”
Authorities are still waiting on the results of the autopsies to determine the causes of death.
Rubacha’s husband, who wasn’t identified, had been away on a business trip in South America at the time of the killings and became concerned after he could not reach his family.
"This is a horrible, horrible thing for the deputy staff to witness [and] even worse for this father and the husband, who was on his way back from South America," Public Information Officer Randy Warren said at a press conference, according to People. "He flew in this morning, had to be notified of what happened here. It's an incredibly emotional day for him. It's not a good scene at all.”
Sheriff Rick Wells told WWSB that investigators are still trying to determine what may have motivated the violence, saying, “We don’t understand what’s going on with people and their mental health and what’s going on behind closed doors, and a case so horrific like this is something that maybe no one could have ever predicted.”
He added that they were unaware of any clues that may have suggested the family was under stress.
“I don’t know if there were signs that maybe family members didn’t pick up—we don’t know,” Wells continued. “All we can do is try to take an opportunity to talk to families and let them know if you see something going on and a family member needs help, you need to reach out and try to get that help for them.”
Warren confirmed, according to Fox 13, that there had been no prior 911 calls to the house since the family had moved to Florida three years ago from Missouri.
”It’s unimaginable,” he said, “that two children were killed inside their home by a parent, and then she took her own life.”
