On May 13, 2015, 17-month-old Zarielle Young was found dead in a small fourplex on the 500 block of East 74th Avenue in South Anchorage. The children’s grandfather made the discovery around midday after entering the locked apartment through a window because the father had not dropped the kids off as usual. All four family members in the unit had suffered gunshot wounds and a firearm was recovered at the scene.

Police treated the scene as an isolated domestic incident with no signs of an outside intruder. Neighbors later told investigators they had heard gunshots between about 1:37 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., but no one reported them at the time. Investigators and the state medical examiner concluded the evidence pointed to a contained murder-suicide: 24-year-old Curtis Young III shot his girlfriend, 27-year-old Desiree Leandra Gonzalez, their 4-year-old son Zaiden, and Zarielle, then turned the gun on himself. Detectives said they were not seeking any additional suspects.

The deaths were publicly identified as domestic-violence-related and memorial records confirm Zarielle’s age and date of death. If anyone has information about the family or the events leading up to that night, please come forward.