July 28, 2026
NEW: Details Emerging On Michigan Father Who Killed Wife And Six Kids
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RSS Feed Investigators are trying to piece together what happened in a Michigan home that led to 47-year-old Kris Karolkiewicz shooting and killing his six children, his wife and then himself after setting the family home on fire. We know Kris recently lost his job as a Vice President with the American Heart Association, but it’s still unclear if that played a role in the unthinkable tragedy. Investigators say they found his licensed firearm near his body, and the rest of the family members shot to death in their bedrooms. While police confirmed he did not leave behind a note, investigators have seized what they call “a lot of documentation” from the home.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, July twenty eighth, and it was the dad Welcome to this episode of Amy, and TJ wrote, we didn't know what to think when you hear a family of eight found dead, six of them kids between the ages of five or fifteen, some of them shot. We didn't know what to think. Is this the scenario that we kind of came up with and we're hoping wasn't the case?
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Sadly, it was the most likely. Yes, anything could have happened. There could have been some beef with a family member or a neighbor who knows in the unlikely scenario that someone came into the home and killed everyone. Yes, but the most likely scenario, especially when you saw that fire, which alerted neighbors, which ultimately alerted police. Fire department actually to the scene thinking they were going to be potentially rescuing a family from a fire and instead find all eight family members and their pets dead inside that home. Yeah, this was just an unthinkable tragedy and you hoped, you hoped it wasn't what it looked like. But it turns out they have confirmed this was a mass murder suicide.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Had hoped it's weird to think that you hoped they died in the fire. It's weird to think you hoped that. This isn't how it ended with six kids dead at the hands of their dad. So this came to our attention first, Robes. It was on over the weekend. At least you hear about this tragedy and the way it went. Robes was really confusing initially that authorities had gone to the scene twice because the first time they couldn't find the fire that they were getting reports about. So the whole incident that happened over the weekend, things were just bizarre.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Yes, so they can't find it house, there's reports of a smell of smoke, and then a few hours later they actually can see the smoke coming from a home and that is when they knew where to go and when they went in, Yes, they found this horrific scene. And ultimately the autopsies were completed over the weekend and they made the announcement Michigan officials did on Monday that forty seven year old Chris Kroolkowitz did die by suicide after he killed his wife, thirty nine year old She went by Mandy, and their six kids, age five to fifteen. They found his licensed handgun at the scene, so they know, and they say the order of events, they believe he killed his family and then set multiple fires throughout the home on the first floor and in the basement, and then ended up turning the gun on himself.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: And beyond that, Robes, this is all we know. What's the why behind this? That that's got to be the next question, why and what could have been done? And what was missed? Did anybody know or the any warning signs? Because they have been helped, all those questions have to be asked because again, Robes and I seem like we've said this a lot lately. This isn't this isn't normal, right, this is this we try to desperately understand how human beings are capable of some things. Robes, those kids are fifteen, twelve, eleven, five, but two eleven year old girls, right, those are their ages? Four boys and two girls. How do you walk through the house and kill those kids?
00:03:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just mentioned four boys. Yeah, it's fifteen, twelve, eleven and five and the two girls who were adopted both eleven years old. And yes, we kept talking about this visual that we have from the Amityville horror movies, and literally he in this movie goes by and goes into each bedroom and it's based on a true story and takes the live of his children and his wife one by one with a gun. I mean, this is while they're sleeping. This is exactly what that story and then the subsequent movie that we've all possibly seen that I can't get that visual out of my head.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: No Rose, And yes, there was plenty in that case, and plenty of stuff has been romanticized in Hollywood with demons and possession and all that kinds of stuff. But Robes, I would lean towards something like that before. I would lean towards a dad who built a home and a family. So the point we want our family to grow will go adopt children. This sounds like a loving place, Robes.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: It sounds weird. But even reading this small detail that the couple had actually just gotten a permit the month before or a few weeks before to redo the roof on their home, Like I guess, I just start thinking about couples and families making plans, additions, renovations. They were planning and continuing to plan their future in that home with their family. Now, police believe they gave a press conference, and they believed that the incident may have started the night before or even the day before, and then carried over into the early morning hours. And that's they were describing, just seeing the smoke and then going to the smoke. And they said that as they're trying, yes, the why, to figure out what may have happened, what led to this horrific tragedy, they said that they have quote seized a lot of documentation, so they didn't really give an indication about where it's headed, but it did sound as though they have some leads as to motive as to why this may have occurred. And look, it has been mentioned that, look, this could be unrelated. But the father, Chris, this is how it's been described. His employment ended with his job at the American Heart Association just the week prior seventeenth, and at that time his wife and the two girls were in China and had come back. I guess the day after his termin he was We don't know if he was terminated or fire, but his employment ended abruptly, but he served as the VP of Sales and Marketing at the American Heart Association. He had a great job, had had it since twenty twenty three, and not surprising, the American Heart Association had no comment because it's about a personnel matter. But people are drawing or at least making that potential connection to what happened in that home.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, that's something. Doesn't explain the kids. He told me he died by suicide. I would listen to that story. Robes, this doesn't. That's a lot of kids, right. You have a moment after the first to think about it, and then the second, and then the third, and then the robes. This is.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: The family, pets, even like I'm saying, like everything that was connected to him, that was a part of him, that was his life. He ended. I never understand. I never understand. If you're that desperate, if you're that depressed, if something so catastrophic happened in your life, why take out every person you love with you?
00:07:18
Speaker 1: You know, we should ask some psychologists somewhere about that question, because it does happen, and it seems like we've had a bunch of high profile There was a politician not too terribly long ago, I think, killed his wife while the kids were in the house. We've seen a number of these Why wipe out the family. This leads I will I will listen to anything anything having to do with a motive with drugs. I'll listen to possession, I'll listen to psychosis, I'll listen to anything before I'm gonna come around to just thinking a guy snaps and kills his own family over lost job.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: I mean, I would think it would had to have been more than that. Why did he lose his job? Was there something about the way he lost his job, the reason behind why he lost his job, that it was all gonna come to light and it was just too much for him to bear and he didn't want the shame on his family. It's hard to get your head around to imagine how you could do something like this. But the family members were described as being found throughout the house, and most of them in their bedrooms. And so, I mean, as predicted, if you've got honestly a fifteen year old son, a twelve year old son, look, I would think that if they were alert and awake and you start hearing gunshots, it seems like perhaps someone could have tried to But this was a big guy. If you see the pictures, he's a big dude. But I still feel like that's six or seven excuse me against one. However, when you're sleeping, you are vulnerable. You are not even if you're awakened by the noise of a gunshot, you'd still be confused and out of swords and not really sharp enough to be able to either defend yourself or your siblings or your mom. So you just it's just so incredibly sad to think that that happened in your most vulnerable state and who And there was no suicide note, by the way, that was asked, so there was no official reason given, nothing left behind, just the gun that led obviously detectives to understand that in fact, it was yes, the father who killed his entire family before turning the gun on himself. And there were no calls to the home before, by the way, no issues with the family, No police ever called to the home for a disturbance, so there were no warning signs, no outward warning signs that anything was going on in that home.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: It's a mystery that has to be solved. This is just I don't know. We're not connected to this family, but as a country rose we see these things, we see these tragedies, were trying to stop them from happening. We have to understand how they happened in the first place. And this is just I would love to hear.
00:10:01
Speaker 2: Yes, and investigators say that they will. That is their number one goal right now is to figure out the why. When we come back, we're going to tell you what we know about these victims, what we know about Mandy and Chris and their marriage and their relationship, and perhaps just try to get into how something like this could have happened and talk about the loss, the massive hole that's left behind in that community and in that family, and welcome back everyone as we talk about this unbelievable tragedy that unfolded in Michigan and entire family gone. And police now say it was the father, forty nine year old Chris Corokowitz, who took the lives of his wife, Mandy, their six kids, and ultimately himself. Their pets even died in the home as well. But they did determine investigators that each family member died by a gunshot wound. The fire. The smoke did not kill them. They were dead before the fire was set, so that's how they know the order of events. And look, a lot of folks are looking into this family, and Mandy was active on social media. She was a substitute teacher at Grand Haven Area Public schools. But look, this is a couple that was married since August of two thousand and nine. And look, we haven't seen a lot from Chris, but he praised their marriage. He praised his wife on their tenth wedding anniversary, and it just seems like they had this happy, big, growing family. They had four biological children, adopted two daughters, and then had their fourth son. So look, it's just it's tough when you see the social media and you see this happy family. You've seen the pictures. When you look at their picture, what do you see normal?
00:11:53
Speaker 1: I see what everybody tries to put on social media, right, the best face possible. I don't know. I don't know what to believe in I see pictures, but I certainly when to believe this tragedy under any circumstance looking at this family.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: No, And it's one of those Their family photos are everywhere, and it's certainly haunting when you just see all these beautiful, happy faces living in an area. By the way, this is Grand Haven, Michigan, eighteen thousand residents. It's a small It's described as like a coastal beach town off of Lake Michigan, about thirty minutes from Grand Rapids. Got a lot of family. My dad was born in that area. It's idyllic. It's kind of described as a Norman Rockwell kind of a town. So, look, a lot of folks are looking for answers. Her parents live in the area, her sister lives in the area. They've all put out statements just talking about how wonderful Mandy was, how they treasured their time with them, and they're all asking for space from the media. Can you imagine. I mean, we're covering this here, and obviously this is a significant enough story where it's garnered national even international attention, But man, if you're in that town and you're in local news, people, this is the biggest tragedy they've experienced in recent history. The focus on that family has got to be pretty intense, But so will the search be for answers.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: It's just getting started. It's awful no matter what. But for whatever reason, to hear that they'd all died at the hands of the guy that was considered their ultimate protector in that house, it's just it's a gut punch.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: It certainly is, and we will continue to follow up as Michigan authorities try to figure out what exactly happened in that family, what exactly happened in those days and even hours leading up to these murders. We will continue to follow any new developments, but in the meantime, we always appreciate you listening to us, I mean me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, July twenty eighth, and it was the dad Welcome to this episode of Amy, and TJ wrote, we didn't know what to think when you hear a family of eight found dead, six of them kids between the ages of five or fifteen, some of them shot. We didn't know what to think. Is this the scenario that we kind of came up with and we're hoping wasn't the case?
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Sadly, it was the most likely. Yes, anything could have happened. There could have been some beef with a family member or a neighbor who knows in the unlikely scenario that someone came into the home and killed everyone. Yes, but the most likely scenario, especially when you saw that fire, which alerted neighbors, which ultimately alerted police. Fire department actually to the scene thinking they were going to be potentially rescuing a family from a fire and instead find all eight family members and their pets dead inside that home. Yeah, this was just an unthinkable tragedy and you hoped, you hoped it wasn't what it looked like. But it turns out they have confirmed this was a mass murder suicide.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Had hoped it's weird to think that you hoped they died in the fire. It's weird to think you hoped that. This isn't how it ended with six kids dead at the hands of their dad. So this came to our attention first, Robes. It was on over the weekend. At least you hear about this tragedy and the way it went. Robes was really confusing initially that authorities had gone to the scene twice because the first time they couldn't find the fire that they were getting reports about. So the whole incident that happened over the weekend, things were just bizarre.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Yes, so they can't find it house, there's reports of a smell of smoke, and then a few hours later they actually can see the smoke coming from a home and that is when they knew where to go and when they went in, Yes, they found this horrific scene. And ultimately the autopsies were completed over the weekend and they made the announcement Michigan officials did on Monday that forty seven year old Chris Kroolkowitz did die by suicide after he killed his wife, thirty nine year old She went by Mandy, and their six kids, age five to fifteen. They found his licensed handgun at the scene, so they know, and they say the order of events, they believe he killed his family and then set multiple fires throughout the home on the first floor and in the basement, and then ended up turning the gun on himself.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: And beyond that, Robes, this is all we know. What's the why behind this? That that's got to be the next question, why and what could have been done? And what was missed? Did anybody know or the any warning signs? Because they have been helped, all those questions have to be asked because again, Robes and I seem like we've said this a lot lately. This isn't this isn't normal, right, this is this we try to desperately understand how human beings are capable of some things. Robes, those kids are fifteen, twelve, eleven, five, but two eleven year old girls, right, those are their ages? Four boys and two girls. How do you walk through the house and kill those kids?
00:03:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just mentioned four boys. Yeah, it's fifteen, twelve, eleven and five and the two girls who were adopted both eleven years old. And yes, we kept talking about this visual that we have from the Amityville horror movies, and literally he in this movie goes by and goes into each bedroom and it's based on a true story and takes the live of his children and his wife one by one with a gun. I mean, this is while they're sleeping. This is exactly what that story and then the subsequent movie that we've all possibly seen that I can't get that visual out of my head.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: No Rose, And yes, there was plenty in that case, and plenty of stuff has been romanticized in Hollywood with demons and possession and all that kinds of stuff. But Robes, I would lean towards something like that before. I would lean towards a dad who built a home and a family. So the point we want our family to grow will go adopt children. This sounds like a loving place, Robes.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: It sounds weird. But even reading this small detail that the couple had actually just gotten a permit the month before or a few weeks before to redo the roof on their home, Like I guess, I just start thinking about couples and families making plans, additions, renovations. They were planning and continuing to plan their future in that home with their family. Now, police believe they gave a press conference, and they believed that the incident may have started the night before or even the day before, and then carried over into the early morning hours. And that's they were describing, just seeing the smoke and then going to the smoke. And they said that as they're trying, yes, the why, to figure out what may have happened, what led to this horrific tragedy, they said that they have quote seized a lot of documentation, so they didn't really give an indication about where it's headed, but it did sound as though they have some leads as to motive as to why this may have occurred. And look, it has been mentioned that, look, this could be unrelated. But the father, Chris, this is how it's been described. His employment ended with his job at the American Heart Association just the week prior seventeenth, and at that time his wife and the two girls were in China and had come back. I guess the day after his termin he was We don't know if he was terminated or fire, but his employment ended abruptly, but he served as the VP of Sales and Marketing at the American Heart Association. He had a great job, had had it since twenty twenty three, and not surprising, the American Heart Association had no comment because it's about a personnel matter. But people are drawing or at least making that potential connection to what happened in that home.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, that's something. Doesn't explain the kids. He told me he died by suicide. I would listen to that story. Robes, this doesn't. That's a lot of kids, right. You have a moment after the first to think about it, and then the second, and then the third, and then the robes. This is.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: The family, pets, even like I'm saying, like everything that was connected to him, that was a part of him, that was his life. He ended. I never understand. I never understand. If you're that desperate, if you're that depressed, if something so catastrophic happened in your life, why take out every person you love with you?
00:07:18
Speaker 1: You know, we should ask some psychologists somewhere about that question, because it does happen, and it seems like we've had a bunch of high profile There was a politician not too terribly long ago, I think, killed his wife while the kids were in the house. We've seen a number of these Why wipe out the family. This leads I will I will listen to anything anything having to do with a motive with drugs. I'll listen to possession, I'll listen to psychosis, I'll listen to anything before I'm gonna come around to just thinking a guy snaps and kills his own family over lost job.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: I mean, I would think it would had to have been more than that. Why did he lose his job? Was there something about the way he lost his job, the reason behind why he lost his job, that it was all gonna come to light and it was just too much for him to bear and he didn't want the shame on his family. It's hard to get your head around to imagine how you could do something like this. But the family members were described as being found throughout the house, and most of them in their bedrooms. And so, I mean, as predicted, if you've got honestly a fifteen year old son, a twelve year old son, look, I would think that if they were alert and awake and you start hearing gunshots, it seems like perhaps someone could have tried to But this was a big guy. If you see the pictures, he's a big dude. But I still feel like that's six or seven excuse me against one. However, when you're sleeping, you are vulnerable. You are not even if you're awakened by the noise of a gunshot, you'd still be confused and out of swords and not really sharp enough to be able to either defend yourself or your siblings or your mom. So you just it's just so incredibly sad to think that that happened in your most vulnerable state and who And there was no suicide note, by the way, that was asked, so there was no official reason given, nothing left behind, just the gun that led obviously detectives to understand that in fact, it was yes, the father who killed his entire family before turning the gun on himself. And there were no calls to the home before, by the way, no issues with the family, No police ever called to the home for a disturbance, so there were no warning signs, no outward warning signs that anything was going on in that home.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: It's a mystery that has to be solved. This is just I don't know. We're not connected to this family, but as a country rose we see these things, we see these tragedies, were trying to stop them from happening. We have to understand how they happened in the first place. And this is just I would love to hear.
00:10:01
Speaker 2: Yes, and investigators say that they will. That is their number one goal right now is to figure out the why. When we come back, we're going to tell you what we know about these victims, what we know about Mandy and Chris and their marriage and their relationship, and perhaps just try to get into how something like this could have happened and talk about the loss, the massive hole that's left behind in that community and in that family, and welcome back everyone as we talk about this unbelievable tragedy that unfolded in Michigan and entire family gone. And police now say it was the father, forty nine year old Chris Corokowitz, who took the lives of his wife, Mandy, their six kids, and ultimately himself. Their pets even died in the home as well. But they did determine investigators that each family member died by a gunshot wound. The fire. The smoke did not kill them. They were dead before the fire was set, so that's how they know the order of events. And look, a lot of folks are looking into this family, and Mandy was active on social media. She was a substitute teacher at Grand Haven Area Public schools. But look, this is a couple that was married since August of two thousand and nine. And look, we haven't seen a lot from Chris, but he praised their marriage. He praised his wife on their tenth wedding anniversary, and it just seems like they had this happy, big, growing family. They had four biological children, adopted two daughters, and then had their fourth son. So look, it's just it's tough when you see the social media and you see this happy family. You've seen the pictures. When you look at their picture, what do you see normal?
00:11:53
Speaker 1: I see what everybody tries to put on social media, right, the best face possible. I don't know. I don't know what to believe in I see pictures, but I certainly when to believe this tragedy under any circumstance looking at this family.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: No, And it's one of those Their family photos are everywhere, and it's certainly haunting when you just see all these beautiful, happy faces living in an area. By the way, this is Grand Haven, Michigan, eighteen thousand residents. It's a small It's described as like a coastal beach town off of Lake Michigan, about thirty minutes from Grand Rapids. Got a lot of family. My dad was born in that area. It's idyllic. It's kind of described as a Norman Rockwell kind of a town. So, look, a lot of folks are looking for answers. Her parents live in the area, her sister lives in the area. They've all put out statements just talking about how wonderful Mandy was, how they treasured their time with them, and they're all asking for space from the media. Can you imagine. I mean, we're covering this here, and obviously this is a significant enough story where it's garnered national even international attention, But man, if you're in that town and you're in local news, people, this is the biggest tragedy they've experienced in recent history. The focus on that family has got to be pretty intense, But so will the search be for answers.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: It's just getting started. It's awful no matter what. But for whatever reason, to hear that they'd all died at the hands of the guy that was considered their ultimate protector in that house, it's just it's a gut punch.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: It certainly is, and we will continue to follow up as Michigan authorities try to figure out what exactly happened in that family, what exactly happened in those days and even hours leading up to these murders. We will continue to follow any new developments, but in the meantime, we always appreciate you listening to us, I mean me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.