Three found dead in Cole Camp home

COLE CAMP — The bodies of three people were found in a Cole Camp home after police received a call from a citizen who was concerned about the residents.

“At this time we are just trying to determine what happened here,” said Sgt. Scott Meyer with the Missouri Highway Patrol. “We don’t know whether it is a homicide.”

Meyer briefed media near the home on Elm Street where members of the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, Cole Camp Police Department and Highway Patrol conducted preliminary investigations since Tuesday afternoon.

A citizen called the Cole Camp Police Department about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday out of concern for the residents. Police obtained a search warrant at 5:15 p.m. and found the three bodies when they went inside.

Just after 8 p.m., Meyer said authorities were continuing to process the scene and did not have a positive identification of the three bodies. The names of the deceased would not be released until police made the identification and contacted next of kin, he said.

None of the bodies had been removed from the house as of 9:15 p.m.

“We are going to take our time,” Meyer said. “We don’t want to do anything that could hamper the investigation.”

Donald and Sharon Luetjen lived at the home where police searched Tuesday. Their granddaughter, Taron Luetjen, 15, lived with her grandparents in Cole Camp, said Taron’s mother, Debra Kost. 

Authorities had not contacted Kost to notify her about deaths in her family as of Tuesday night, she said. However, Kost’s husband called her after he saw news outlets reporting Taron, Donald and Sharon were dead.

“This is like a nightmare. Nobody should have to go through this,” Kost said.

Kost said Taron’s grandparents were awarded custody after Taron’s father died in a car accident when she was not yet a year old. Kost said she could not afford to keep fighting in court, so she let her daughter live with her grandparents.

Jim Hill, who watched police Tuesday from his mother-in-law’s front yard down the street from the investigation, has known the Luetjens for more than 30 years. He said he was shocked by the scene.

“I don’t know anybody that had a bad word to say about them,” Hill said.

Meyer would not release the cause of death, ages or genders of the deceased. He said police would continue the investigation overnight.