Police identify family found in apparent murder-suicide in Mapleton

MAPLETON – We’re learning more about the family that was found in an apparent murder-suicide.  Investigators say the family had not lived in the area for long.

Police were called to the home on State Route 89 last night after a concerned neighbor asked police to check on the family.  Mapleton Police Chief John Jackson says, “He hadn’t seen them for a while.  He hadn’t seen their cars move for a while.”  Plus, Jackson says one of their bosses also called because they hadn’t shown up for work.

Jackson says the officers tried to make contact with the people inside, but failed.  He says, “It was at that point that they put it all together and said, ‘We feel we need to go in and check on them.’  So they removed a window, went into the home and found four deceased bodies inside and a deceased dog.”

Inside were Timothy and Jessica Griffith, her daughter Samantha Badel, 16, and their son, five-year old Alexandre.  They just moved to Mapleton from Switzerland after he found work.  Jackson says they had never seen any problems with this family before.  “We want to learn more about these people.  This investigation will take weeks and weeks.  Our detectives will spend a lot of time digging into the background and trying to put this all together,” Jackson says.

Badel was a sophomore at Maple Mountain High School, and school district officials will provide services to the students who need them.  Jackson says this will be hard for the whole town to deal with.  “It’s going to rick our community.  It’s going to tear some people up because these people up here care about each other.”