Man kills self, 2 daughters at Junction City

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. — The bodies of two young girls and their father have been found at a rural Oregon home in what police said appears to be a double murder-suicide.

The father was identified as Richard Rauscher, and his daughters were 7 and 9 years old, The Register-Guard reported.

The newspaper said state business registration records showed Rauscher owned a home-based carpentry business.

Rauscher and his estranged wife, Jennifer, shared custody of their two daughters and was with the girls on Sunday, when they attended a birthday party, according to Lane County sheriff's deputies.

When Jennifer Rauscher went to her daughters' school to pick them up Monday afternoon, she was informed that they had never shown up, sheriff's Sgt. Spence Slater told the newspaper.

Jennifer Rauscher, who lives in Eugene, then called a neighbor of her husband, who said Richard Rauscher's car was in the driveway, Slater said.

Jennifer Rauscher then asked a sheriff's deputy to meet her at her husband's home.

When no one answered knocks at the door, deputies decided to force entry and found the two girls shot to death. Richard Rauscher was also dead from a gunshot wound.

Slater said deputies believe Richard Rauscher was in his late 40s. He had no known history of domestic violence, restraining orders or other criminal record.

"It's a horrible outcome that changes the paths of a lot of lives forever," Slater said.