The three-bedroom home, near the corner of Balmoral Drive and Tay Road, is in an unincorporated area of north St. Louis County called Glasgow Village. The home was still cordoned off with yellow police tape hours after the bodies were discovered.

After the sun came up, onlookers consoled one another and gave updates to friends over their cellphones. A half dozen stood next to a street sign wrapped in the crime-scene tape. One woman cried out, then dropped to her knees, after hearing the news. “Why, why?” she wailed.

They watched from a yard away as workers carted the bodies out on gurneys.

Neighbor Beverly Smith, who has lived on Balmoral since 1982, said she didn’t know the people who lived in the home but said she had never known there to be any “commotion or trouble” at the small home with white siding.

“Very quiet,” she said.

About a month ago, the occupants parked a passenger bus, painted black, on the street in front of the home. It was known in the neighborhood as “the party bus.” It was taking up so much space on the street that residents complained, and it was removed.

A small crowd gathered outside the home for a quiet vigil Friday night. Some prayed and some sang spiritual songs.