Two children were found dead in an Ottawa home and their father in a vehicle about 60 kilometres south of the city in a suspected double murder and suicide, police said Monday, as officers investigate two fires believed to be linked to the case.
Investigators said they found the children, two boys aged seven and 12, while conducting a wellness check at a home on Mandevilla Crescent in the Findlay Creek neighbourhood on Monday morning.
They said provincial police are also holding other locations outside of Ottawa believed to be linked to the investigation, including a vehicle fire at a carpool lot in Kemptville, where the boys’ father was found dead.
On Monday afternoon, a handful of neighbours were outside their houses on Mandevilla Crescent, where police had blocked off a large area. Yellow police tape cordoned off a home surrounded by police vehicles.
Supt. Jamie Dunlop said someone called police Monday morning after going to the house and growing concerned when no one answered the door.
“We are certainly going to be interviewing the mother, all other relatives, friends and everybody who knew them to kind of plan out, plot out what were the conditions of that family dynamic,” Dunlop said at an afternoon news conference. The children’s parents were divorced and the mother did not live at the home, he said.
Another location believed to be connected to the case is a business in Iroquois, Ont., where police said there was a fire Monday morning. Dunlop did not provide details on the business or the fire due to the ongoing investigation.
“A great deal of information and investigation is still required by the Ottawa police and OPP to piece together all these different elements,” said Dunlop.
“It’s a very tragic incident for the family, the friends, neighbours. Certainly when children are involved it’s extra difficult to understand.”
Premier Doug Ford said he was “deeply disturbed” to hear about the two young boys’ deaths.
“My sincere condolences go out to their loved ones in this unbelievably difficult time,” he wrote in a social media post.
Dunlop said police are investigating the timeline of events and how they may have been connected to each other. Police have said they do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the public.
The identities of the boys and their father are not being released at this time as investigators reach out to their next of kin.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2026.
-by Rianna Lim in Toronto and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.