Police in Virginia say a man called 911 on Thursday morning to report three murders and a suicide at a home in Stafford County that he shared with his wife and two young daughters. He then hung up the phone.

When officers responded to the address given to the emergency dispatcher by the caller, who identified himself as Lance Buckley, they found the bodies of the 35-year-old man, his wife, 30-year-old Amy Buckley, and their children, five-year-old Claire and 17-month-old Abigail.

The call was placed at 8.41am, according to officials. The couple's next of kin have been informed of their deaths, a source told DailyMail.com, on Thursday evening.

Stafford County Sheriff's Office confirmed earlier the tragedy was being treated as a murder suicide.

Amy and Lance Buckley were found dead with their two young daughters Claire, five, and Abigail, 17 months, on Thursday in a suspected murder suicide. The family is seen above on Halloween

Mr and Mrs Buckley were living with his parents at their rural home of Stafford with their daughters.

His parents were too distraught to speak on Thursday night as were neighbors on the quiet suburban street.

Mr and Mrs Buckley welcomed their second child Abigail in April last year, eleven days before Mr Buckley vanished from home.

He became the subject of a missing person's appeal after vanishing while on his way to Howard University where he was studying a PhD in microbiology.

At the time his wife pleaded for his return, describing him as the 'love of her life'.

He was missing for more than a week before being found safely in Maryland.

Police would not give details of how the couple and their children died on Thursday afternoon.

Police discovered the family's bodies on Thursday morning. Mrs Buckley, 30, gave birth to the couple's second child, Abigail, last April

Mr Buckley (above last year with his daughters) went missing 11 days after the birth of his second daughter but was found safe and unharmed more than a week later

The young family were living with Mr Buckley's parents who were too distraught to speak about their deaths on Thursday

Mr Buckley, 35, was studying a PhD at Howard University when he disappeared last May. His wife appealed for his return (above) at the time

The sheriff's office confirmed they were treating it as a 'domestic murder suicide' in a statement.

'The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation into the deaths of four individuals in the Windsor Forest Subdivision in the northwestern portion of the county.

'The preliminary investigation has determined the incident was a domestic related murder-suicide.

'The ages of the deceased are a 35-year-old male, a 30-year-old-female, a five-year-old female and an 18-month-old-female,' the sheriff's office said in a statement. It has since emerged the baby girl was a month younger.