The Orange County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the deaths of Leslie McKinley and her 14-year-old son, Kody Larue, as a murder suicide after being found dead in their Azalea Park home Monday afternoon.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jane Watrel explained that police were contacted for a welfare check after a neighbor told police that they haven’t seen McKinley, 47, or the boy for about two weeks. Upon entry into the home on the 110 block of South Forsyth Road around 4:30 p.m., they could smell decomposing bodies and found a note warning of “toxic chemicals” inside a bedroom.
That bedroom is where the two were found dead. Watrel added that both of the bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition.
“The remains of two bodies in advanced state of decomposition were located inside the bedroom,” Watrel said. “It is believed the chemicals were inhaled by the victims.”
Spokesman Mike Jachles said that the Orange County Fire Rescue Department called their Hazmat unit to the scene, who determined there was no chemical threat and ventilated the home.
The Sheriff’s Office believe that the chemicals were inhaled by the victims, possible making this a murder-suicide.
Deputies are awaiting final confirmation from the medical examiner before that the official cause of death, Watrel said.
A neighbor told Channel 9 that McKinley kept to herself and Larue had autism. Another neighbor said McKinley was experiencing a challenging time in her life and had isolated herself in recent months.
