Mom, 3 Kids Found Slain in Fla. Home, Say Police

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS/WFOR/AP) The bodies of a young mother and her three small children were found slain in their home in what was described by police as a violent crime scene in north Florida.

Authorities are working to find out who may have wanted to harm the family and hope to have more information by the afternoon.

Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said the autopsies were being performed Sunday.

Detectives described the crime scene inside the home just a few miles from the state Capitol as violent, but police have not elaborated on how the family was killed. Neighbors and relatives have identified the victims as a single, stay-at-home mother and her twin 6-year-old girls and 3-year-old son, but police have not released their names.

The neighborhood had burglaries in recent years, though the crimes had waned with increased police patrols. Authorities hadn't been called to the home before Saturday, McCranie said.

The bodies were found after police received a suspicious call at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. By the afternoon, a crowd had gathered outside the house while crime scene investigators came and went.

Dennis Williams, who identified himself as the half-brother of the slain woman, said the mother was 28. Williams, 35, of Albany, Ga., said the two weren't close, but he knew her focus was on her children.