A pot house slaying in rural Idaho is under investigation after a visitor on Friday saw a 2-year-old girl out wandering in the cold and then discovered three dead adults in the house. A second child, a 2-month-old baby, was rescued from where she lay under the arms of her mother, 27-year-old murder victim Yavette Chivon Carter.

The house, locally known as a pit bull breeding operation, is located in Oneida County, outside the small town of Holbrook north of the border with Utah. The visitor had come to buy a pit bull but instead ended up finding the dead bodies of 61-year-old Brent Christensen, his son 32-year-old Trent Jon Christensen, and the son’s girlfriend Carter.

There were around 50 to 70 pit bulls on the property. After making sure that the little girls were placed safely with their grandmother, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department is working to feed the dogs and figure out what to do with them next. They’ve already received donations to keep the dogs healthy and fed for the time being, but anyone who owns any of the dogs is asked to come get them.

Some of the dogs may be dangerous, as the investigators have discovered a fighting arena in addition to the breeding operation.

They also found a professional marijuana growing operation, with 38 plants that they valued at around $95,000.

Sheriff Jeff Semrad advised against jumping to conclusions about the motive behind the pot house slayings: “You could say it might be drug related, it might be dog fighting related, it may not have anything to do with either one or it may have something to do with both of them.”

The time of death was estimated to be sometime late Thursday afternoon or early evening — which means that the 2-year-old was likely wandering outside for most of 24 hours before the deadly discovery. Investigators are being somewhat careful with the details, but they don’t think the public is in any danger because it looks like the victims were targeted by their killers.

There was an Easter party on March 31 at the house, and the sheriff is asking anyone who attended to call his office at 208-766-2251.

KPVI News, a local TV news station, has posted some chilling video of the scene of the pot house slayings including many of the pit bulls on the grim scene:

According to Semrad, it’s the first murder in the rural county in over 100 years, since the pioneer days. The last thing the peaceful community normally expects is a gruesome pot house triple slaying.

[marijuana and cash photo by Eldad Carin via Shutterstock.com]