Local law enforcement said a mother and her 6-year-old son found in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park were victims of murder-suicide.
Park rangers responded to a report of a car parked on a trail inside the park where it should not have been at around 8:15 a.m. Thursday and found the child unresponsive inside, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said.
The rangers tried to save his life and sent him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The rangers also found another individual outside the vehicle, confirmed to be the boy’s mother on Friday.
The boy’s father, husband to the deceased woman, had reported both of them missing from Colorado on Wednesday. The sheriff’s office said Friday that the deaths are being investigated as a murder and suicide.
No cause of death was provided for either decedent. Lt. Colby Turk of the sheriff’s office told Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV that the woman showed signs of trauma, though he did not provide further details.
The sheriff’s office said it was withholding the names of the deceased out of respect for the family.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family during this incredibly difficult time,” the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said.
