7 in Iowa Family Found Shot to Death
ALGONA, Iowa — Seven family members were found shot to death at a home Wednesday afternoon in what may have been a murder-suicide, authorities said.
The bodies were discovered by police, who were alerted by a neighbor or friend, said Gene Meyer, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
Kossuth County Sheriff Chuck Day said the seven were shot to death. Algona police officials said the deaths were being investigated as a murder-suicide.
The Rev. Gary Dehnke, pastor of the family’s church, said police told him the victims were John and Agnes Dreesman; their son, Robert; daughter, Marilyn Chuang, and the daughter’s three children.
Police roped off the Dreesman home in this town of 6,300, which is about 110 miles north of Des Moines. No one was found alive in the house, Meyer said.
Dehnke, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Algona, said he had not been aware of family problems. The parents, who he said were in their late 70s, were “faithful church membersâ€.
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