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OC Family May Have Committed Group Suicide

KTLA News

11:42 PM EDT, June 26, 2008

SAN CLEMENTE -- Investigators in Orange County say five family members found dead in their upscale San Clemente home may be the victims of a group suicide.

The badly decomposed bodies of Manas Ucar, 58; his wife, Margrit, 49; their twin daughters, Grace and Margo, 21; and Margrit Ucar's mother, Fransuhi Kesisoglu, 72, were discovered May 25 by concerned family members.

The coroner says the family members had been dead for at least two weeks. Authorities say the victims were also all dressed in black clothing, but say they do not believe their deaths were related to cult activity.

Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says investigators do not know a motive but hope that an examination of the family's computers will yield clues about the deaths.

The bodies of Manas and Margrit Ucar were discovered on the first floor of their home in the gated Sea Pointe Estates neighborhood.

They were lying near a closet off a master bedroom. Two handguns were found near the bodies.

The couple's twin daughters, Grace and Margo, were found lying on a bed in another bedroom. The grandmother was in a chaise lounge adjacent to the bed.

Investigators are still awaiting the results of forensic and toxicology tests to determine how each of them died.

A neighbor who had not seen the family in several days asked deputies to do a welfare check at the home on May 14, but nothing unusual was found.

Several days later, relatives went to the house and discovered the bodies.