On the morning of September 17, 2015, a house fire at the Westerhuis family home in Platte, South Dakota, initially suggested the family of six had died in the blaze. First responders found the structure engulfed and later discovered the bodies of Scott and Nicole Westerhuis and their four children, including 9-year-old Kailey Westerhuis, in the ruins.

Autopsy results showed the family members, Kailey among them, had fatal shotgun wounds and had no soot in their airways, indicating they were already deceased before the fire took hold. Investigators determined the fire was deliberately set with an accelerant to destroy the home and evidence. The South Dakota Attorney General concluded that Scott Westerhuis shot his wife and four children and then killed himself, making the deaths homicides and the fire an act of arson.

Reports linked the motive to extreme financial and professional pressures faced by Scott Westerhuis, including revelations that he and his wife had embezzled more than one million dollars from a federally funded program they managed. If anyone knew the Westerhuis family or has information about what led up to that September morning, please come forward and share what you know.