OGDEN — A woman and three children found dead Tuesday in a vehicle at a West Haven residence — located near 1800 S. Prevedel Drive — died as a result of a murder-suicide, the Weber County Sheriff’s Office says.

Lt. Terance Lavely of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office announced the initial findings of authorities’ investigation into the deaths at a press conference Friday morning.

Lavely identified the woman as 32-year-old Maribel Ibarra and noted that the three children — a boy and two girls, ages 4, 2 and 1 — were hers.

The sheriff’s office will not be releasing the names of the child victims.

Investigators believe that all four individuals died due to gunshot wounds. Lavely said that physical evidence from the vehicle where Ibarra and her children were found led to the murder-suicide determination.

“The evidence indicates that Maribel shot her three children in the rear cargo area of her vehicle before turning the gun on herself,” he said.

No note has been found by investigators. The father of the children was interviewed by detectives as part of the investigation, which Lavely said remains ongoing.

The fatal shots are believed to have been fired sometime late Sunday night/early Monday morning, Lavely said. He added that video footage from doorbell security cameras and witness statements were also used to determine a timeline of events and the nature of the deaths.

“(Ibarra) recently — like last year — she had moved out of the home. It was her parents’ home,” neighbor Darren King told the Standard-Examiner on Wednesday. “About a month ago, she moved back home and brought the kids back home with her.”

Lavely offered his department’s condolences to the family, several members of which attended the briefing. He also acknowledged the toll these kinds of cases can take on those tasked with investigating them.

“This is the second horrible child death for our agency in as many months and this is the 11th child death scene our CSI has processed in this year,” Lavely said. “We recognize the mental and emotional toll that this takes on our people and are actively providing services to them.”

Attending family members did not take questions, instead offering a written statement.

“We are going through an extremely difficult time, with a pain in our hearts that cannot be explained in words due to the invaluable loss we have suffered, because they were the light of our lives,” the statement read.

“As a family, we unfortunately knew nothing about her mental health. We always saw her as a loving mother, which makes this so shocking for us. We do not know the exact reasons why this tragedy happened, and we deeply regret it. This pain is something we wish no one would ever have to go through.”

The family further urged those who are going through difficult times to seek help and refrain from hiding their pain.

Newsletter