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Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:15 AM UTC

Details released on family found dead in Oregon

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Topics: From the Wires,

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Two little girls, not yet old enough for kindergarten, were shot to death. Their infant sister was found asphyxiated.

All were discovered in a burning house with their 26-year-old mother, also a victim of a gunshot wound.

Police on Wednesday began releasing details of what they say was a murder-suicide at the Salem home on Tuesday.

Authorities said the children’s father was found dead in a car 80 miles to the south. He is considered a person of interest in the slayings but his name was not released.

Firefighters who entered the burning home discovered the bodies of infant Sefi Lazukin, 1-year-old Zoe Lazukin, 3-year-old Angelica Lazukin and the children’s mother, Natalya Lazukin.

Authorities have not said if a weapon was discovered in the house they believe was intentionally set on fire.

Salem, the state capital, is about 50 miles south of Portland along Interstate 5.

Clara King, who lives in an apartment about 50 yards from the home that burned, said she was awake in the middle of the night and heard a woman screaming, “like she was being hurt.”

“I thought it was the neighbor lady having a party or something,” King said. “I went out there to say something, but nobody was there.”

Some residents of the working-class neighborhood say it is a rough area. It’s not unusual to hear screams or fights in the middle of the night, King said.

People in the neighborhood were shaken by the deaths.

“We’re worried because we don’t know what happened inside,” said Magdiel Perez, who lives two doors down from the home.

Black soot coated the edges of window frames of the lime-green home where the children and their mother died. Pink and white flowers grew by the front door.

The family was quiet and kept to themselves, said Jose Quiroz, who lives across the street. The father would frequently play with the children in the yard, where the kids splashed in a pool last summer, Quiroz said.

There were no outward signs of conflict between the couple, he said.

“It’s unbelievable that someone could hurt their own kids,” Quiroz said.

Another person found on a street a quarter mile north of the house was identified as 21-year-old Devin Matlock of Salem. He died of blunt force trauma, the result of two blows to the head.

Matlock’s death was being treated separately from the murder-suicide investigation, Salem police Lt. Dave Okada said.

Matlock was at a friend’s house playing video games the night he died and left on foot about 2 a.m., said his friend Matt Wujcik.

Wujcik said Matlock usually avoided dark streets like the one where his body was found.

“It hasn’t hit me all the way that I’m not going to see him,” Wujcik said.

Matlock’s sister said the family is in disbelief.

“Anybody who met him, they instantly liked him,” said Amanda Matlock. “He’s just going to be very, very missed.”

Jonathan J. Cooper

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

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