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Four shot to death, dumped alongside turnpike in St. Lucie County
By Allyson Bird

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 13, 2006

UPDATED: 11:52 a.m. October 13, 2006

PORT ST. LUCIE — Two adults and two children were found shot to death alongside Florida's Turnpike this morning in St. Lucie County.

A passerby called the Florida Highway Patrol about a possible body on the road across from the St. James Golf Club, just south of mile marker 149.

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Sheriff Ken Mascara said the dead are a man and woman, both in their 20s or 30s, and a boy and girl between 4 and 6. Mascara said the victims appeared to be Hispanic.

There was no car near the bodies, but there were tire tracks, he said.

"You can stand back and see someone has driven off the road," Mascara said.

Mascara said he believes the shootings happened at the scene sometime after midnight.

The woman appeared to be embracing the children. All four suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Tracy Maynor, staff clerk at the golf club, said a resident of the homes along the golf course reported hearing "some shots or fireworks at about 3 in the morning. That's about all we heard."

The medical examiner set up a tent to determine the victims' identities as traffic was rerouted around the crime scene.

The bodies were removed at about 10:30 a.m., and autopsies are scheduled for this afternoon.

The discovery was made just south of the Fort Pierce exit, close to the Interstate 95 interchange.

Cameras posted along the turnpike were not recording at the time, Mascara said.

Anyone with information is asked call the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office at 772-462-3230.

"We are publicly pleading for help now," Mascara said.

The victims' identities are known, but have not been released.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.