Male, 47, suspected of massacring his wife and 6 children before taking his own life, officials say



A Michigan husband and father is suspected of fatally shooting his wife and six children before taking his own life last week, authorities said.

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jake Sparks said investigators believe that 47-year-old Kristopher Karolkiewicz killed his wife, 39-year-old Amanda Karolkiewicz, and their six children — four boys, ages 15, 12, 11, and 5, and two 11-year-old girls — before killing himself.

'This is an unspeakable tragedy that we may never completely understand.'

“The manner of death for Amanda and the six children was ruled homicide. The manner of death for Kristopher has been ruled suicide,” Sparks stated.

Deputies assisted firefighters at 11:42 a.m. Friday responding to a call about a house fire in the Riverwood neighborhood of Grand Haven, which is on the coast of Lake Michigan and a little over 30 minutes west of Grand Rapids.

Firefighters entered the two-story residence and discovered eight people dead in various rooms. Investigators later determined that all of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds before the blaze was set.

Autopsies confirmed the identities of the deceased as Kristopher and Amanda Karolkiewicz and their six children, four of whom were the couple's biological boys; their two girls had been adopted. The children’s names have not been released.

“This is an unspeakable tragedy that we may never completely understand ... but we’ll do our best to find the answers and to honor the memory of those victims," Sparks pledged.

Investigators believe Kristopher used a handgun in the killings; no suicide note has been found so far.

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While the official cause of the fire remains under investigation, preliminary evidence indicates it was intentionally set after the killings, Sparks shared. Investigators found multiple areas where the fire appeared to have been ignited, including the home’s first floor and basement.

“I can tell you that no suspects remain at large in this incident at this time. The investigation at this point shows that this was a murder-suicide with the fire being started after the murders,” Sparks said.

The family’s pets, including several dogs and at least one cat, also died in the fire.

Sparks noted that the violence may have commenced the night before and continued into the early morning hours, with neighbors having reported smelling smoke early in the day, though a precise timeline is still being established.

The motive remains unknown.

The American Heart Association confirmed that “Kristopher Karolkiewicz was an employee ... from September of 2023 until earlier this month, July 2026, when his employment ended," WWMT-TV reported.

Amanda worked as a substitute teacher at Grand Haven Area Public Schools, WDIV-TV reported. District Superintendent Kristin Perkowski called the tragedy a “devastating incident.”

“It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge reports of a devastating incident in Grand Haven Township earlier today involving the loss of multiple lives, including several school-aged children,” she wrote, according to WZZM-TV.

Amanda also was a children’s author, and a biography from one of her books notes that her passions were “special needs and trauma-informed advocacy, mindfulness, reading, dining out, traveling, and exploring the Lake Michigan shoreline.”

Steve and Becky Lawwill, the parents of Amanda and the grandparents of the six children, issued a statement Monday to WWMT saying, “Our daughter Mandy was a kind and devoted soul who loved her family and her students.”

“We treasured every moment we had with her and her six children, and words cannot adequately express our devastation,” the Lawwills added. “We pray for God’s peace and comfort as we grieve their deaths and honor their lives.”

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'Our hero': UFC legend Mark Coleman recovering after rescuing both parents from 'horrible' house fire



UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman called himself "the happiest man in the world" earlier this week after he managed to rescue both of his parents from a "horrible" fire that destroyed their home and claimed the life of their beloved dog, Hammer.

In the wee hours of the morning, Coleman and his parents were sleeping at home in Fremont, Ohio, when Coleman suddenly awoke, reportedly because of Hammer's incessant barking. Coleman immediately knew something was desperately wrong.

"I got out of my room and went to the door," he later recalled through tears, "and it was already horrible. I couldn't breathe. I almost had to go outside."

A fire was raging in the house, endangering everyone inside. Seemingly on instinct, Coleman raced in and picked up his parents, one by one, and carried them outside to safety.

"I can't believe my parents are alive!" he said from his hospital bed, still weeping with joy and hugging his young daughters, Kenzie and Morgan.

According to an Instagram post from Morgan, Coleman had to be "life-flighted to the hospital" where he then "battl[ed] for his life." Thankfully, he is recovering and breathing on his own, a Facebook video shows. "God is good. Miracles do happen," read a message accompanying the post.

Though the family is celebrating that Coleman and his parents are alive, they are also grieving the loss of Hammer, who perished in the fire. "I couldn't find Hammer!" Coleman wept.

"We will miss our sweet hammer so deeply," Morgan added in her post.

Coleman, who still maintains his muscular physique, has been an athlete his entire adult life. He won a national championship in wrestling at Ohio State in 1988 and then went on to compete in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Afterward, he spent some time competing as an amateur MMA fighter before joining UFC. He won his first heavyweight title in 1997 and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2008.

"Our father has always been our hero and means the world to us," Morgan said. "He is and always will be a fighter."

"The strongest [and] bravest man I know."

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Part Pit Bull, Part Super-Dog
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Part Pit Bull, Part Super-Dog

Woman reportedly resuscitates baby after dangerous house fire in Virginia: 'I shook him, pinched him. I just wanted to hear something'



A 1-year-old baby in Virginia and his four older siblings are safe after a dangerous house fire, thanks to some fast thinking from neighbors.

Fire and Rescue Services in Portsmouth, Virginia, claim that they received an alert about a house fire at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time on Friday morning. When they arrived, they tried to discover whether there were any people left trapped inside the home as black smoke billowed out the back.

There were no adults in the home at the time, and the oldest child, who is 16 years old, was left in charge of his siblings. Though all five children had already escaped and three were unscathed, two siblings had been seriously injured. The 16-year-old young man and his 1-year-old brother were both badly burned, and the latter wasn't breathing.

Luckily, Erica Barner, a mother of three who happened to be visiting a friend next door, had already responded to the commotion she'd heard outside.

“It almost sounded like someone taking a brick or something and hitting it against something,” Barner described the noise as the fire broke out. “It was like a pop or a bang.”

“We saw them coming out of the back end of the house, just burned,” Barner said. “The oldest was completely… you see skin coming off the oldest, screaming. You see the baby burned, not really making any noise. It stopped breathing, so his eyes rolled back. That was a lot. I’m sorry.”

When she saw the baby appear to lose consciousness, she said she immediately devised an impromptu means of resuscitating him.

“I dug my fingers in his nose, took all the smut out, went in his mouth and cleaned the smut out with rags and breathed into his mouth,” Barner said. “I shook him, pinched him. I just wanted to hear something, so I kept pinching him. I kept hitting his back, wiggling his arms, and I saw his eyes open. He was whining.

"It was a small sound, but it was good enough for me.”

Meanwhile, other neighbors reportedly helped contain the fire by cutting off electricity to the house. Fire teams later determined that the fire was indeed started accidentally due to an electrical short. The home did have a smoke detector, but it did not awaken the children, who had been sleeping. Authorities have since condemned the building.

Despite having likely saved the life of a baby, Barner insisted to WTVR that she isn't a hero.

“I consider myself a mom and I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” she said. “I would only hope any human being would do the same thing without question.”

7-year-old boy went back into raging house fire to rescue baby sister: 'I didn't want my sister to die'



A family lost their home during the holiday season, but thanks to brave 7-year-old Eli, they didn't lose something even more precious — the family's youngest member.

Dec. 8 was like any other night. Chris and Nicole Davidson fed their three children dinner and tucked them into bed by 8:30 p.m. However, the Davidsons were awakened in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke in their home in New Tazewell, Tennessee.

"And about 11:30 someone woke me up and I know it was God," Nicole told WLTV-TV.

Nicole said Chris, who is a former fireman, "grabbed the fire extinguisher trying to buy me time to get the kids, and I grabbed the boys because they were closest to the fire."

They ran outside, but their 22-month-old daughter was still inside the burning home.

Nicole Davidson said the living room was engulfed by the inferno and prevented her from accessing the bedroom where her 22-month-old daughter was sleeping.

"The scariest moment of my life was when I couldn't get her," Nicole said.

"The smoke and fire was so thick there was no way I could get to her," Chris told CNN. "We went outside to get to her from the window, but there was nothing for me to stand on to reach up there."

Young Eli reminisced about saving his sister in the dire situation, "Dad busted the window and then I said, 'I can't do it,' like two times, and then I said, 'I got her dad'. And when we went down there I said, 'I was scared but I didn't want my sister to die."

Chris said he "picked up Eli, who went through the window and was able to grab her from her crib."

"We couldn't be more proud of Eli," Chris Davidson said. "He did something a grown man wouldn't do."

While the baby was rescued, the Davidsons' home couldn't be saved from the devastating fire. There were 20 firefighters on the scene battling the blaze, but New Tazewell Fire Chief Josh Miracle said, "nothing was left."

The Davidsons have fostered 34 children, including Eli, and adopted two others. But now they don't have a roof over their heads.

"We lost everything that we have ever had," Chris Davidson said. "Our entire lives were in that home. Our three cars were also damaged in the fire."

"It's devastating. We have nothing," he said. "You have never been as humble as you are when you don't even have your own underwear to wear."

A GoFundMe was launched to help the family financially and has raised over $270,000.

Nicole thanked those who gave donations to the family, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could never repay anyone for their kindness that they've shown my family. Please know that it will always be with me, it's not something you forget about. I am beyond grateful."

Nicole told an anecdote about Eli's newfound fame, "I read several of the comments to him, and his reply to me this morning was 'Mom I'm gonna be famous.' I still don't think at his age he grasps what he has done and how phenomenal that is."