On the morning of September 17, 2015, a fire destroyed the rural Platte, South Dakota home of Nicole and Scott Westerhuis. Firefighters found the remains of 41-year-old Nicole Westerhuis, her husband Scott, and their four children Kailey, Jaeci, Connor, and Michael. Preliminary autopsies showed all six had died from shotgun wounds and lacked soot in their airways, indicating they were killed before the house fire took hold.

Investigators with the South Dakota Attorney General’s office concluded Scott Westerhuis shot his wife and four children, then set the house on fire and died by a self-inflicted shotgun wound in the kitchen. The three victims who were female were found in the master bedroom; the two boys were in their own rooms.

The killings occurred amid a major financial scandal at Mid-Central Educational Cooperative, where Scott was business manager and both he and Nicole worked. Authorities say the couple had embezzled more than $1 million in federal grant money, and the day before the deaths the state moved to terminate a $4.3 million contract over financial irregularities and unaccounted funds. Three other people later faced felony charges linked to the cooperative’s mishandling of funds.

If anyone knew the Westerhuis family or has information about the circumstances leading up to September 17, 2015, please come forward.