Michigan State Police Lt. Sean Furlong says the federal marshals heard a gunshot then found 38-year-old Thomas Fritz dead in the Sistersville, W.Va., cabin Tuesday night.
Police say the Sylvania, Ohio, man shot his ex-girlfriend, Amy Merrill, her pregnant 24-year-old sister, Lisa Gritzmaker, and their mother, Robin Lynn McCowan, on Friday at the Blissfield, Mich., home he and Merrill shared until recently.
Only McCowan survived. She is recovering from her wounds at a hospital.
The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/Nsrx8S) late Sunday that the bodies were found near Trimble, Mo., in Clinton County. Platte County Sheriff's Capt. Erik Holland told the newspaper the bodies were those of white women but he could not immediately confirm the victims' identities or how they had died.
Holland said authorities "were led" to the area where the bodies were found by talking to the suspect in case, whom he did not identify.
"That individual is under arrest and in custody," he said.
Haarup, 19, and Key, 22, were reported missing Friday from after Haarup's fiancé, Matt Meyers, came home to find his 6- and 18-month old daughters alone and in the same crib. Relatives of the women said there was blood on the couch in the Edgerton residence, located about 35 miles north of Kansas City.
"The truck was gone, the girls were gone and Matt has some personal guns that had been missing as well. That is all he had to tell me, and I knew something was wrong at that point," the mother of the missing women, Taresa Haarup, told KCTV.
The Platte County Sheriff's Department said Sunday that authorities were speaking with a person of interest in the case and have executed two search warrants.
The missing truck was found parked on a gravel road Saturday, prompting authorities to search the surrounding fields. Although there were no signs of foul play, the truck was towed to the Kansas City crime laboratory to check for evidence.
The sisters' father, Paul Haarup, begged for his daughters' safe return during a candlelight vigil Saturday night that drew a crowd of about 70 people.
"Whoever has them, give them a phone, have them call us, put an end to this," Haarup told KSHB.
Family members fear the sisters were abducted. They said Key, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, had been running with a bad crowd and sought her sister's help turning her life around.
"That's why she came to Britny and Matt's house; to get help, to get out of that lifestyle. She was very serious about getting help," Cassandra Meyers, sister-in-law of Matt Meyers, told KSHB.
Haarup's fiancé said his daughters need their mother back home.
"Your babies love you and they miss you," he told The Kansas City Star.
The bodies were found in an open field in Clinton County late Sunday, according to ABC News station KMBC. Police have not confirmed whether they were the bodies of Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22, who went missing Friday from their Edgerton home.
The person of interest has been arrested, according to KMBC.
Haarup's fiance, Matt Meyers, reportedly found their two children, 6 months and 18 months old, alone in their crib when he returned home Friday evening. Meyers then ran to neighbors, saying there was blood inside the house. Police were called to the scene. On Saturday morning, a white pick-up truck belonging to the father of Haarup's fiance was found abandoned miles from the women's home.
No visible signs of foul play were found in or on the vehicle, police said.
The purses of both women and Haarup's cell phone were found inside the house, but bed sheets from the home were reportedly missing.
"She is a very good mother. She would never leave her kids at home, especially for that amount of time," said Cassandra Meyers, Haarup's sister-in-law.
Friends and family members held a candlelight vigil Saturday night in Edgerton to pray for the women's safe return.
Olivia Katrandjian contributed to this report.
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