Connor Egan Westerhuis was 14 when he died on September 17, 2015, in Platte, South Dakota. A student at Platte-Geddes Community School, he was the junior high football quarterback and also played basketball, baseball, and track. Born March 17, 2001, to Scott and Nicole Westerhuis, he was active in the First Reformed Church and remembered for his sense of humor.

Early on September 17 a passerby reported a house fire at the Westerhuis family home. What began as a blaze investigation soon revealed that Connor, his mother Nicole, and his siblings Michael, 16, Jaeci, 10, and Kailey, 9, had all died of shotgun wounds. The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office concluded that Scott Westerhuis fatally shot his wife and four children, set the house on fire, and then killed himself; forensic evidence was cited as supporting that determination. Reported financial trouble tied to the loss of a $4.3 million contract and alleged theft from a GEAR UP grant were noted in connection with the case.

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