Police: Father of girl found dead with four others in California home arrested

Police officials gather during an investigation after a 12-year-old girl was found dead Friday, July 17, 2015, in West Valley City, Utah. The search for the missing 12-year-old girl is now being investigated as a homicide after West Valley City police discovered the girl's body in a horse pasture. Police Chief Lee Russo says the girl's mother approached two officers at a convenience store near their home around 1:30 a.m. Friday,July 17, 2015. She told officers her daughter had been missing since midnight. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) – A 30-year-old man was arrested Sunday in the deaths of his daughter, two other girls and two women whose bodies were found in a California home, police said.

Modesto police spokeswoman Heather Graves said Martin Martinez, of Modesto, was detained in San Jose early Sunday and booked into a Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of murder.

Martinez had a relationship with one of the women and is the father of one of the girls found dead Saturday afternoon. All the victims are related, and the children's ages range from 6 months to 6 years old, Graves said.

Police aren't releasing information about a motive or cause of death at this time, she said.

Officers responding to a request to check on the home discovered the bodies Saturday afternoon, Graves said.

Modesto is located in California's Central Valley.

The house is in a tidy subdivision lined with four- and five-bedroom homes that were built seven or eight years ago, the Modesto Bee reported.

Connie Lycan, who lives a block away, said she moved to the neighborhood when it was new and considered to be quiet.

"Well it was quiet. No place is safe anymore," Lycan said.

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