Content warning: The following article contains descriptions of suicide.
A Minnesota woman is alleged to have drowned her three children, as well as herself, after her husband died by suicide.
Per a report from CBS News, local authorities shared an update on their investigation into the deaths this week, including the identification of the victims of the Vadnais Lake drownings on July 1.
“Our hearts go out the family, friends, and community impacted by this terrible tragedy,” Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin said in a statement shared Tuesday. “The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the circumstances of this incident to provide clarity and closure to the surviving family members.”
According to the latest update, officers with the Maplewood Police Department received a report from 23-year-old Molly Cheng that her husband, 27-year-old Yee Lee, had fatally shot himself. At that point, officers are said to have made arrangements for regional social workers to provide assistance to the woman and her three children.
Later that afternoon, a relative placed an emergency call, stating that Molly “was going to kill her children and herself,” spurring police to roll out a statewide alert. By around 5:45 p.m. local time, Molly’s phone had been tracked to an area near the lake, followed minutes later by the discovery of a vehicle connected with the family. The body of a child, later determined to be four-year-old Quadrillion T. Lee, was recovered from the lake that evening.
The ensuing hours resulted in the recovery of the bodies of five-year-old Phoenix Lee and three-year-old Estella Zoo Siab Lee. The manners of death of all three children, per local authorities, was homicide. Molly Cheng’s body was also recovered from the water, with officials determining she died by suicide, with the cause of death listed as drowning.
As noted amid the latest update on the alleged triple murder-suicide, the multi-agency investigation is still active, meaning additional information could be released in the coming days.
