Mother Kills Three Children, Husband Before Committing Suicide

Navarro County, TX — A Navarro County woman shot her husband and three children before committing suicide, officials said Tuesday morning.

According to KHOU, the bodies of Guadalupe Ronquillo-Ovalle and Israel Alvarez, both 33, were found with their three sons inside their home just outside of Rice, Texas Sunday night. The children were 4, 8, and 10.

“Late yesterday afternoon, we received word from the medical examiner’s office that the preliminary autopsy revealed all three children, along with Mr. Israel Alvarez, died as a result of homicidal violence, being gunshot wounds,” Sheriff Elmer Tanner said. “Guadalupe Ronquillo-Ovalle died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Each of the victims suffered gunshot wounds to the torso. Ronquillo-Ovalle suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Tanner said the murder-suicide likely took place between late Thursday afternoon into early Friday morning.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for approximately 25 years and I cannot recall during my career an incident where the mother was the shooter of her own children,” Tanner said.

Authorities found no note at the scene but took a.22 caliber semiautomatic long rifle from the home that is the suspected weapon used in the murder-suicide. Sheriff Tanner said authorities are still trying to figure out a motive and interviewing friends and neighbors.

Israel Alvarez was arrested September 11 on a misdemeanor family violence charge for allegedly shoving his wife, according to NBCDFW.com. He pleaded no contest, paid a fine, and was released.

In March, a Mesquite, Texas woman killed her two children and husband before killing herself. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, 43-year-old Angelica Vasquez killed her husband, 44-year-old Marcelo Vasquez, their 18-year-old son Alejandro, and 21-year-old daughter Paulina. She then turned the gun on herself.

Vasquez had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone chemotherapy. The motive for the murder-suicide was unknown, but friends mentioned that Angelica Vasquez had grown distant and depressed, presumably because of her cancer diagnosis.