{"id":19215,"date":"2026-07-27T21:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19215"},"modified":"2026-07-27T21:24:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:24:51","slug":"family-of-8-found-dead-in-burning-michigan-home-in-murder-suicide-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19215","title":{"rendered":"Family of 8 found dead in burning Michigan home in murder-suicide: Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">A Michigan man is suspected of fatally shooting his wife and six children and then setting their <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/8-people-including-6-children-found-dead-michigan\/story?id=135068868\" dir=\"ltr\">house on fire<\/a>, before taking his own life, authorities said Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The six children, who were between the ages of 5 and 15, and their parents were found dead Friday after fire personnel responded to battle a fire at their home in Grand Haven Township, according to the Ottawa County Sheriff&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">All eight died from gunshot wounds, the sheriff&#8217;s office said in an update on Monday following the completion of the autopsies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The children&#8217;s father, 47-year-old Kristopher Karolkiewicz, died by suicide, and the deaths of his wife, 39-year-old Amanda Karolkiewicz, and their six children were ruled to be homicides, according to the sheriff&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The names of the deceased children are not being released, the sheriff&#8217;s office said. They included four boys &#8212; ages 5, 11, 12 and 15 &#8212; and two 11-year-old girls. Four of the children were biological and two had been adopted, the sheriff&#8217;s office said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Fire personnel initially responded to the area, located on Lake Michigan west of Grand Rapids,<strong class=\"vtkaO \">\u00a0<\/strong>Friday morning following reports of the smell of smoke, though they were unable to locate a house fire, according to Ottawa County Sheriff&#8217;s Office Capt. Jake Sparks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur Rnci \" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW aiQHS lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Authorities respond to a deadly house fire in Grand Haven Township, Michigan, July 24, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">WZZM<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Several hours later, fire crews returned to the area following calls about white smoke at a residence and went inside the home to battle a fire, where they found the eight family members deceased, Sparks said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The cause and origin of the fire remains under investigation, though it is believed to have been intentionally set in several places throughout the home, Sparks said. The family&#8217;s pets also died in the fire, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;No suspects remain outstanding and the investigation shows that this was a murder-suicide, with a fire being started after the murders,&#8221; Sparks said in a press release on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The incident remains under investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Grand Haven Area Public Schools called the incident a &#8220;tragic loss for our community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Our hearts are with all those impacted, and we know many throughout our community may be grieving and struggling to process this news,&#8221; the office of the superintendent said in a statement Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The district also shared suicide and crisis hotline services for anyone impacted by the deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \"><em class=\" \">If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide<\/em><em class=\" \">\u00a0<\/em><em class=\" \">&amp;<!-- --> Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Michigan man is suspected of fatally shooting his wife and six children and then setting their house on fire, before taking his own life, authorities said Monday. The six children, who were between the ages of 5 and 15, and their parents were found dead Friday after fire personnel responded to battle a fire&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/a59a996b-0959-4d71-a369-856ea5d7718d\/fire-1-abc-er-260724_1784933578889_hpMain_16x9t.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}