Police claim the stepfather stabbed his wife and two sons to death before killing himself

A teenaged girl made a grisly discovery after returning from a hunting trip Sunday morning: Her mother, stepfather and two half-brothers were bloodied and dead inside the family s Marrero, Louisiana, home.

Jefferson Parish authorities believe it was a murder-suicide, committed by the girl’s stepfather, David Mata, 46. According to a statement from Sheriff Newell Normand, Mata stabbed to death his 40-year-old wife, Kelli Fabre Mata, before stabbing to death their sons, 4-year-old Caden and 2-year-old Liam.

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Police believe David Mata then took his own life, but they did not specify how he killed himself. A knife was found underneath his corpse.

Normand’s statement says that the daughter who discovered the bodies fled the home and called 911, after which police responded to the scene.

The bodies of Caden and Liam were found in separate bedrooms, the statement says.

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According to media reports, in 2010, two years before the couple married, Mata pleaded guilty to assaulting Kelli and received a suspended sentence of one year in prison.