Bodies of dad, 2 sons found by Lake Michigan; believed murder-suicide

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. (AP) - A father and two sons whose bound bodies washed up on the shore of Lake Michigan drowned in an apparent double murder and suicide, a deputy medical examiner said Monday.

The bodies were bound together with rope and tied to bags filled with sand when a resident spotted them on a beach Saturday. None of the three showed any physical trauma, said deputy medical examiner Rick Berg, citing preliminary autopsy findings.

Kevin L. Amde, 45, and his sons, Tesla Amde, 3, and Davinci Amde, 6, were last seen May 6, when the father and younger son picked up the older boy from his school in Chicago, Police Chief Brian Wagner said. Veronica Amde, Kevin Amde's wife and the children's mother, reported them missing May 11.

Wagner said the bodies were tied together with nylon rope. Also tied to the bodies were two nylon book bags, each containing personal belongings, and two plastic bags filled with sand.

The pockets of one child were also filled with sand, Wagner said.

The children's deaths were ruled homicides. Authorities plan further toxicology tests on the father before making a determination on how he died, Berg said.

Investigators have said the amount of time the three were believed to be in the water was consistent with how long they had been missing. Where and how they entered the water remains under investigation.

Amde's family was having trouble paying rent for their Chicago apartment and a judge ruled earlier this month they could be evicted.