When officers arrived Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012, at the well-kept Vanderlinden house on Anna Drive, near Ecorse and Haggerty roads, no one answered. / KIRTHMON F DOZIER/DETROIT FREE PRESS
DETROIT (AP) - Police say a mother and two children found dead in a suburban Detroit home were stabbed with a butcher knife.
Van Buren Township police Capt. Gregory Laurain said Friday autopsies on the victims show 34-year-old Linda VanDerLinden died of strangulation but had been stabbed in the chest. According to Laurain, the medical examiner's report also says 7-year-old Julien VanDerLinden and his 4-year-old brother, Matthew, were stabbed multiple times in the chest and arms.
Police say they found the weapon they believe was used in the stabbings, an 8½-inch butcher knife, in the kitchen sink.
Authorities discovered the bodies Thursday when they went to notify family members that Michael VanDerLinden died in a crash on an Indiana freeway.
Laurain says Michael VanDerLinden is suspected of killing his wife and two children.