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The Tempe Police Department’s theory that the five bodies found in the Vekol Valley this weekend were victims of a murder/suicide continues to check out.
Yesterday, the Pima County medical examiner identified the two adult bodies found in the SUV in the desert as James and Yafit Butwin, and sure enough, the medical examiner says dental records indicate that the three other bodies were the Butwins’ children — ages 7, 14, and 16.
Tempe Police Sergeant Jeffrey Glover says the medical examiner’s office has also informed police that all five of them died from gunshot wounds.
James Butwin’s death has been ruled a suicide, while the deaths of his family members have been ruled homicides.
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Glover said yesterday that blood and bullet casings were found in multiple rooms of the home, although there was no definitive answer as to where each of the family members died.
Two guns were found in the Butwins’ SUV, matching the caliber of the bullet casings found in the home.
In that SUV, four of the bodies were found in the rear compartment, and one adult body was found in the backseat.
Two “suicide” notes from James Butwin exist, Glover says, although neither of them detailed exactly what he was going to do.
Still, Glover says the notes are consistent with the murder/suicide investigation.
One of James Butwin’s business partners called Tempe police over the weekend, asking them to check in on the Butwins after James Butwin mailed a letter to him with instructions on how to run the business.
Police still haven’t been too specific about it, but it was enough to cause concern with the business partner.
The other note, which Glover referred to as “more specific,” was left by James Butwin in his office. It wasn’t really addressed to anyone, but Glover says it looked like it was meant for other family members.
Asked whether police were sure a “violent drug cartel” had absolutely nothing to do with this — as Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu suggested — Glover said that theory was “ruled out on our end.”
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office still hasn’t publicly changed its stance of simply mentioning the Tempe family’s murder/suicide among its other theories.
Previously:
Vekol Valley Bodies ID’d as Tempe Residents; Bullet Casings and Blood Found Inside Home
Paul Babeu Claims He Made “No Conclusions” in Case of Bodies Found in Vekol Valley
