Death toll reaches 10 in 'heinous' family murder case in Brazil

BRASILIA, Brazil - Police in Brazil have found three more bodies connected to a baffling and "heinous" family massacre in which the death toll is believed to have risen to 10, including several charred remains.

The three bodies, "two of the feminine sex and one masculine," were found in a grave in the federal district of Brasilia, police in the capital city said in a Tuesday statement.

One of the three bodies was identified as a man that police had initially sought as a suspect in the other murders.

The charred remains of his wife, three young children, mother and sister were initially discovered a week ago inside two cars in the neighboring states of Goais and Minas Gerais.

The man and his father, who was later identified as a seventh body discovered in the Planaltina area near Brasilia, were initially suspected of being responsible for the murders.

Local media said one of the two other bodies found at dawn Tuesday in Planaltina was an adolescent girl.

Initially there were reports that a 39-year-old woman and her three children -- a boy of seven and six-year-old twins -- were reported missing along with her husband, parents-in-law and sister-in-law.

All of them have now been identified as amongst the dead, along with the other two female bodies found at dawn.

Police have arrested three men on suspicion of involvement in the crime and are seeking a fourth.

The men, who are alleged to have received payment of 100,000 reais (about $19,000), told investigators that the children's father and grandfather had actively participated in the crime and fled.

But that was before the father and grandfather had been identified amongst the victims. -- Agence France-Presse