Voice Of Post

Revealed: Family of five who were found dead inside their home overdosed on cocktail of drugs to escape the 'pending apocalypse' in tragic murder-suicide, A Utah couple and their three children who were found dead in their home last fall overdosed on drugs after the parents told friends and family they were worried about the apocalypse, authorities said Tuesday.

Police also found old letters written by the mother to a Utah inmate serving time for killing family members in the name of God, slayings chronicled in the 2003 Jon Krakauer book ‘Under the Banner of Heaven.’

Benjamin and Kristi Strack and three of their children, Benson, 14, Emery, 12, and Zion, 11, were found dead surrounded by cups inside their Springville home the night of September 27.

On Tuesday, Springville Police Chief J. Scott Finlayson said authorities have concluded their investigation into the deaths and said the cause was 'drug toxicity'.

Mr Strack had high levels of heroin in his system, while his wife had methadone, dextrorphan, diphenhydramine and doxylamine in her system, and both deaths were ruled as suicides.

All three children died from diphenhydramine and methadone; the two youngest children's deaths were ruled homicides, but the chief said Benson's manner of death 'could not be determined'.

But authorities believe he had been the last to die because he was on top of the bed, while his parents and siblings were under covers.

Finlayson said there were no signs of a struggle and no suicide notes were found.

Police said Benson wrote a goodbye letter, leaving some of his belongings to his best friend. The only other recent writing the family left behind was a notebook containing handwritten to-do lists about feeding the pets and other chores.
Finlayson said interviews with people who knew the Stracks indicated the parents were worried about evil in the world and wanted to escape from ‘impending doom.’

‘There seemed to be a concern about a pending apocalypse that the parents bought into,’ Finlayson said. ‘While some friends though that suicide may have been, or could have been, included in their plans, others believed they were going to move somewhere and live off the grid.’

During their investigation, police found years-old letters between Kristi Strack and Dan Lafferty, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted of committing a double-murder with his brother Ron.
‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ is about members of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told through the true story of the Laffertys' crimes.

The two killed their brother's wife and 15-month old daughter.
Ron Lafferty is on death row after his conviction in the July 1984 slayings of his sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, and her baby in American Fork.

He claimed to have had a religious revelation sanctioning the slayings because of the victim's resistance to his beliefs in polygamy.

Investigators said Kristi Strack was deeply interested in the case and struck up a friendship with Dan Lafferty.
‘It was almost like he talked to her like one of his children,’ Lt. David Caron said.
She and her husband both became close to him, and he had directed his remains to go to them after his death. They hadn't talked to him since 2008 and investigators do not believe the couple's beliefs came from Dan Lafferty, police Cpl. Greg Turnbow said.

‘He felt really sad they had committed suicide,’ Caron said.
Benjamin Strack's brother Jacob said the final report from investigators wasn't surprising to relatives still mourning the family's deaths.

Looking back, the connection to Dan Lafferty was a troubling sign about the couple's mental state, he said.The Strack family's bodies, which were discovered by their oldest son and his girlfriend, were found in a bed surrounded by the bodies of their children, which were tucked in bedding up to their necks, according to search warrants released last year.
'Furthermore, with the placement of the bodies, it would appear somebody had to position the bodies after they were deceased,' detective Jeffery Ellsworth wrote.

Investigators found several empty methadone bottles, 10 empty boxes of nighttime cold medicine and two boxes of allergy medicine in their garbage, along with a red liquid substance in Pepsi cups.
They also found a pitcher of red juice, a purple bucket with yellow liquid, a bag of marijuana and other medications, including sleeping pills, inside the home.

Kristi Strack was also found with an unidentified red liquid coming out of her mouth.
She had last been seen alive at 6am that day by her son's girlfriend, who also lived in the home.The girlfriend went back to sleep after talking with her, and the house was quiet when the older son, 18-year-old Janson, and his girlfriend left the house that afternoon.

However, when they returned at 7pm and saw the house was still quiet even though all the cars were in the driveway, they knocked on the master bedroom door.

When no one answered, the couple called Kristi Strack's mother and her friend, who helped them to force it open.
In a recording of the 911 call released Tuesday, family friend Maureen Ledbetter tells the dispatcher about the deaths as grandmother Valerie Sudweeks screams in the background.

The methadone used in the deaths was prescribed to Kristi Strack, police said.
Court records show Benjamin and Kristi Strack had a history of legal and financial problems and had gone through court-ordered drug treatment several years ago. Investigators said they weren't aware of any contact with state child services workers.

Benjamin Strack's boss, bricklaying company owner Alex Short, has said it appeared those troubles were behind them.