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Associated PressThe men are called "persons of interest" in the slayings of six in a Central Florida home.
DELTONA - The day that Kay Shukwit will never forget began at the Burger King where she planned to eat breakfast with her 19-year-old daughter, Michelle Ann Nathan, who worked behind the counter.
As soon as she stepped in the door, she knew something was wrong: it was 8 a.m., but her daughter wasn't there. The only people in the place were employees - female employees, wailing and sobbing. One of the girls had collapsed on the floor.
Before Shukwit could speak, a cell phone rang, and there was news: Inside the house that her daughter had been renting with a group of friends, deputies had just discovered a corpse.
Two hours later Friday, police would tell her that the bodies of four men, two young women and a dog had been found in the blood-spattered house in what Volusia County's sheriff Ben Johnson called "one of the most brutal murders our department has ever experienced."
Investigators questioned two roommates Saturday. They described the two as "persons of interest," not as suspects. One man held on a probation violation "had some knowledge of some of the victims," Johnson said. The other man agreed to accompany investigators. The sheriff said they were "somewhat" cooperative.
The sheriff's department would not say how the victims were killed or speculate on any motive. Two other victims have been identified, but their names were not released because relatives had not been notified. Three autopsies were to be done Saturday, and the rest today.
Investigators appeared to have trouble identifying the victims.
"We may have to do some of them by fingerprints and by dental records," Johnson said. "It's going to take some work. "It's hard to describe what went on in that house. The house is a mess. It's just a very, very brutal crime scene."
The crime in the working-class, bedroom community of more than 70,000 people between Orlando and Daytona Beach was the deadliest in Florida since 1990, when a man whose car was repossessed shot eight people to death at a Jacksonville loan office before turning the gun on himself.
On Saturday, forensic experts from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began to examine bloodstains at the house. There was so much to analyze that the task could take 18 hours, said sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught.
Shukwit told the Associated Press the investigators had identified her daughter by a tattoo on her back that read "Princess" and two small star tattoos on her hips.
Her father, Steve Nathan, told the Orlando Sentinel that his daughter, a 2003 graduate of the nearby Pine Ridge High School, had joined the Army shortly after graduation. She was discharged for medical reasons while stationed in Missouri.
After returning to Deltona, Skukwit said her daughter landed the job at the Burger King and moved into a rental house with her boyfriend and other friends. They decorated the house with hand-me-downs from their parents and split the $900-a-month rent, she said. The bodies were discovered Friday morning after a co-worker asked a friend to visit the teenager's home to see why she hadn't gone to work.
The restaurant three miles from the crime scene posted a sign that read "Closed. Reopening Monday." One of the entrances was sealed off with yellow police tape.