Update: This article was updated at 2:40 AM to include more information about an investigation into the death at a pond on the south side of Indianapolis.
Authorities found the bodies of three young children and an adult man in a pond on the south side of Indianapolis Tuesday night, what would likely be a tragic conclusion to the search for a missing Indianapolis father and his children.
Although the bodies have not been identified with certainty, they were found – along with a car that matched Kyle Moorman’s description – in a place where the father often went night fishing.
“We are still working to positively identify the individuals involved, but there are similarities with the Moorman family,” Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said. “The Marion County coroner will do all the identifications and determine a cause of death.”
All signs point to the deceased being Kyle Moorman, 27, and his three children, 5-year-old Kyle Moorman II, 2-year-old Kyannah Holland and 1-year-old Kyran Holland, Bailey said.
Family and friends searched the pond along with the surrounding area at the intersection of Bluff Road and West Troy Avenue for several days before the bodies were recovered.
Where were Kyle Moorman and his kids last seen?
Kyle Moorman and his children were last seen on July 6 at about 11 p.m. on the 1,000 block of South Sherman Drive on the east side of Indianapolis, according to IMPD.
On Monday, Mariah Moorman, the sister of the missing man, said that near the pond Kyle Moorman’s phone last pinged, which came at around 12:40 a.m. on July 7, a few hours after he was last seen. , she said.
Mariah Moorman and dozens of other family members and friends searched the area for several days looking for the man and his children before the bodies were recovered from the pond.
“As far as we know, he came here to fish,” Mariah Moorman said Monday. “He told my sister that. It is not strange. He does it all the time. They go fishing a lot at night.’
Family and friends offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Kyle Moorman and his children. A private helicopter and volunteers with a personal boat searched the pond and surrounding areas on Tuesday afternoon.
Selina Delarosa and Mike Jones, of Greenwood, assisted in the search. Delarosa said they fish on the White River in the area and decided to help search after the family asked if they had any information.
Delarosa and Jones brought a boat to the pond and helped search the water Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Others in the search group used a magnet to search the bottom of the pond Monday night and walked around the water looking for signs of the missing man and his children.
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First responders with flashlights and K-9s circled the edge of the pond on the 2900 block of Bluff Road until late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. They shone large spotlights on the surface of the water as they gathered at a slope in the pond near a parking lot off Bluff Road.
At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, IMPD officer Samone Burris confirmed that police had found an unresponsive adult man in the water. He was pronounced dead on the spot.
Authorities later recovered the bodies of three children. They were found in an underwater vehicle at the bottom of the pond, Bailey said.
According to a press release, members of the diving team from the Indianapolis Fire Department and the Department of Natural Resources were able to locate the vehicle, a black Saab, using sonar technology.
Researchers took the Saab out of the water around midnight with a crane truck.
Earlier Tuesday night, dozens of Kyle Moorman’s relatives and friends gathered on Bluff Road by the pond awaiting information from investigators.
William Muse, a relative of Kyle Moorman’s mother, said Tuesday that he and other family members were frustrated that investigators did not search the pond sooner after the man and his children were reported missing.
“They should have at least tried,” Muse said.
Bailey said more details about how and why the deaths occurred will come out as the investigation progresses when asked Wednesday morning why the dive team hadn’t searched the pond earlier.
“Those are the conditions the researchers are going through,” Bailey said. “They’re following up on multiple leads. They’re tracking their processes, they’re following their procedures. As we put all of this together, we’ll learn more about why and how led us here tonight and other locations we’ve been to during our investigation.”
Early Wednesday morning, Bailey said detectives would continue to gather evidence at the site where the bodies were recovered.
“This is heartbreaking for everyone involved,” Bailey said. “Regardless of the circumstances, we know that a man and three young children are dead tonight. We don’t know why and we don’t know how… We all need to support the family and put our arms around them tonight and the days to come as they mourn this loss.”
Contact Jake Allen at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19†