BARNESVILLE, Md. – A mother discovered the bodies of her two young children and their father in a wooded area Tuesday after the man threatened to harm them, police said.
The father had called the woman, apparently distraught over their relationship, said Montgomery County Police Officer Melanie Hadley. The woman called police about 3 p.m., to report a "possible suicide" and went to the location he had given her, Hadley said.
When police arrived at the wooded area near the Frederick County border they could hear the mother screaming, Hadley said. The bodies of a 35-year-old male, a 3-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy were found 100 to 200 yards from the road, she said.
Police did not identify the victims other than to say they were residents of Boyds. The cause of death was still under investigation and autopsies would be performed Wednesday or Thursday, Hadley said.
Hadley said the 42-year-old woman had a relationship with the children's father, but they had been "estranged for some time."
The bodies were found on the property of Good News Farm. A woman who answered the phone at the horse stable said they were working with police but would not comment further.
Tuesday's discovery came a week after a man and his four young children were found dead in a townhouse about 20 miles away in Frederick. In that incident, police said three young girls had been suffocated, and their brother died from skull fractures. The father hanged himself from a bannister with nylon rope. The mother is still missing.
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