Police in Iowa in the US are looking for a suspect who they believe may have been involved in the murders of a man, a woman and her five children aged five to 12.
A warrant was issued charging a 23-year-old man with theft. Police described him as armed and dangerous.
Police were called to two homes in Sioux City within minutes of each other early yesterday evening.
In one, the body of a man was found. And in the second, a family of six was found on the second floor of a house.
Police were called after a woman who had been providing child care for the family became worried since she had not seen the children.
Investigators said the six might have been dead for several days. They also said two vehicles belonging to the murdered man were missing.
The family of six appeared to have been beaten although police have not yet said what the causes of death were.
The deaths shocked Sioux City, a livestock center in western Iowa which usually records only two homicides a year.