TALLINN - The North Regional Prosecutor's Office has confirmed media claims that the three murder victims discovered on Jan. 12 had been strangled.
Prosecutor Elle-Mai Velling said the tragic event came to light shortly after 3 p.m. on Jan. 13 when police were informed that the bodies of a 29-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged seven years and seven months, had been found in an apartment on Vilde Street. The horrific discovery was made by the children's grandparents.
In their tentative opinion, forensic experts said today that the victims had been strangled to death. A search for the father of the children, a former defense force officer, and his car, a Nissan Almera, was mounted as soon as the news broke, a senior officer of the North police prefecture said.
A passer-by told police this morning he had spotted a man's body in the woods near the northwestern town of Paldiski. Police established it was the missing man, 33-year-old Janek Lauri.
Velling said the man had hung himself. His car was found nearby. "Preliminary information shows this to be a suicide, and as far as is known Janek Lauri did not leave behind any message," the prosecutor said.
The motives of the tragedy are not known yet.
