SPRINGVILLE, Utah -- Monday marks one month since a Springville family of five was found dead in their home. Police still have no answers as far as how or what killed the Strack family.
Benjamin and Kristi Strack, along with three of their children, were found dead on Sept. 27 inside their home.
They were discovered by the couple’s 18-year-old son, who is now the only surviving member of the immediate family.
Police say the lack of answers is out of their hands as they await autopsy results.
“It kind of tries your patience because we’re waiting for the results from the toxicology screens and all of that kind of stuff and we can’t do anything until we get all of that information back,” said Lt. Dave Caron with Springville Police Department.
It’s been one month since Caron and his officers scoured the property for evidence looking for any clue that could provide insight into what happened to the Strack family.
“There have been a few things, and we’ve heard more rumors, some that are really out there, but as far as factual evidence where I can say what caused the death and this is what happened, we wait for the toxicology reports and the report from the medical examiner,” Caron said.
Utah defense attorney Greg Skordas suspects the autopsies were completed rather quickly, but that the holdup is toxicology.
“Because the autopsy probably didn’t show anything, these were otherwise healthy people who died in their home and there’s no trauma to them. There’s no signs of injury to them,” Skordas said.
And while a family dead for four weeks with no explanation may be disturbing to many, Skordas said, there could be other cases the crime lab considers more urgent.
“If they’ve got a case that perhaps has a suspect at large, a sex offender or a suspected murderer, they are going to process that case probably faster than one where they are really just trying to find out what the cause of death was, but they don’t really have a suspect in mind,” Skordas said.
But police say the six- to eight-week wait is typical regardless of the case.
“All of your stuff gets sent to the labs and it gets put in line with everyone else’s stuff and I know a lot of people would say, ‘this is really important -- can’t they hurry yours up?’ Everybody’s cases are important so they can’t play favorites so we just wait our turn,” Caron said.
In the meantime Caron admits it’s difficult not being able to give surviving family and friends closure.
“Police by their nature, we want to go out and fix things or get to the bottom of things and this particular case we just now are at the point we’ve got everything done that we can do and now it’s just waiting for the results,” Caron said.
Memorial funds have also been set up to assist the family with funeral expenses and help support the remaining child.
