IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Police say they believe an Iowa City man killed his wife and four children, then tried to drown himself

before dying in a fiery freeway crash. Iowa City police found the five bodies Monday morning after receiving a 911 call directing officers to a suburban home. In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, investigators say they believe Steven Sueppel killed his wife, then tried to kill himself and his children in their garage by carbon monoxide poisoning. When that failed, he killed the children individually.

 

Lieutenant Jim Steffen says investigators believe the children died by blunt force trauma, possibly from a baseball bat. Steffen says that after the children died, Sueppel tried to drown himself in the Iowa River, then made the 911 call and a few minutes later crashed into the freeway abutment. Police identified the children as 10-year-old Ethan, 8-year-old Seth 5-year-old Mira and 3-year-old Eleanor. Their bodies were found throughout the home. The wife, Sheryl Sueppel, was found dead in the master bedroom.

 

 

A funeral for all six family members will be held at 10:00 Saturday morning at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Iowa City, according to Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service. Burial will be at St. Joseph's Cemetery.

 

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