Dad murdered 5-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son at Grand Canyon (Arizona)

Dad is identified as ANTHONY DEHAVEN. Why is there no mention of the children's mother? Very odd.

Very eerie similarity to this case from 2009, where dad RYAN PETERS killed his 3-year-old daughter in a murder-suicide during his court-ordered visitation--also at the Grand Canyon.

http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/06/dad-kills-3-year-old-daughter-self.html

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046507/Father-kills-children-trip-Grand-Canyon.html

Father 'kills his two children then himself during trip to Grand Canyon'
By Meghan Keneally

Last updated at 10:10 PM on 7th October 2011

A father is suspected of killing his two young children and then himself after their bodies were found in a burnt-out camper in the Grand Canyon.

The deaths are being deemed a murder-suicide by police, but the exact nature of the deaths is still unknown.

Anthony DeHaven, 35, was thought to be on vacation in Arizona with his daughter Jersey, 5, and son Jace, 11, when the bodies were found. Mr DeHaven's mother informed the children's school that they had died.

State police have released few details, but the names of the victims were confirmed by school officials in Minnesota where the family lived.

'Our hearts go out to the entire DeHaven family,' said Jennifer McNeil, a spokesman for the children's school district in Minnesota.

The only thing that National Park Service officials are willing to speculate is that the nature of the fire and the condition of the RV makes the incident look like a possible murder-suicide.

The spokesman for the Grand Canyon, where the RV was found, would not release any further details except to say that they are not pursuing any other suspects because they believe no one else was involved.

The bodies were discovered when park fire fighters tried to extinguish a burning fire in the cab of an RV parked in a highly populated area near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The RV was parked close to the Canyon's most-travelled road, near a sign that is a hot-spot for tourist photos.

The road was closed all of Tuesday and re-opened Wednesday after the RV was completely removed from the area.

As friends and family wait for the results of Wednesday's autopsy to be released, all they are left with are questions.

'Jace and Jersey DeHaven were both bright and wonderful students,' Ms McNeil said.

Administrators at the Skyview Community School that the children attended in Oakland, Minnesota, sent a letter home to students confirming the deaths of Jace and Jersey. Jace and Jersey were in sixth grade and kindergarten respectively.

The father of Jersey's best friend said that the entire story seems odd. Russel Andrews said that Jersey was having a playdate with his daughter Mila at his house just days before she was found dead, and Jersey never mentioned anything about a trip to the Grand Canyon.

'Thought it was strange they would miss school to go on vacation,' Mr Andrews said, noting that it was particularly unusual in early October.

Mr Andrews said that the news is a shock because Mr DeHaven, known to friends as Tony, always seemed happy and close with his children.

He recalled seeing DeHaven playing video games with Jace on the family's new big-screen television.

'It's hard to accept. I don't know if its completely sunk in, to see them gone,' Mr Andrews told the local Fox affiliate.

In a sad and bizarre twist, this will be the second double murder suicide to involve children from the St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district in the past three weeks.

In mid-September, a six year old girl returned home from school with her eight year old brother only to find that her mother, father, and live-in babysitter were dead. That investigation is still underway.

'It's tough. It's tragic,' the assistant superintendent Troy Miller said.

'Our hearts go out to the family and we are just trying to support our students,' Mr Miller said.