William Ahrold And His Son Jackson Found Dead In Van Near Colorado River In Apparent Murder-Suicide

A missing 62-year-old Denver father and his 9-year-old son were found shot to death in a van parked near a stretch of the Colorado River in Grand County, Colo. on Saturday, The Denver Post reports. Police are calling the case a murder-suicide.

Police believe that William Ahrold shot and killed his son Jackson Ahrold and then apparently shot and killed himself, however the case has become complicated by the fact that William Ahrold's gun is missing from the scene of the crime, according to 7News. Now, police are looking for one or more people that may have found the crime scene before the authorities and stole items from the van, including the father's gun.

9News reports that the father and son had not been seen since Dec. 9 and it had been several weekends since any neighbors had seen the pair. Ahrold's ex-wife, Gretchen Blenkarn, had stopped by William's home just last week, where Jackson lived part-time, to ask if anyone had seen them, but no one had. Jackson's toys were scattered outside the home and the Christmas lights were still on.

When neighbors heard the news that the pair were found dead, neighbor John Wasinger said to 9News, "I am in shock. That breaks my heart. I can't imagine that because he loved that kid. They had a lot of fun. They were always out there in the front kicking the ball around.

Four days after the pair were last seen, they were reported as missing and on Dec. 17, a Bureau of Land Management employee found the victims inside Ahrold's van, according to Fox31. The Grand County Sheriff's Department said that the bodies appeared to have been in the van for several days before being found.