On March 17, 2012, the body of Kate Margaret Adebukola Adewunmi, a 3-year-old female, was discovered alongside her two older sisters and mother at the Blue Springs Ranch and Resort in Bourbon, Missouri. The grim discovery was made by a guest of the resort who spotted a vehicle and bodies on a remote gravel road near the Meramec River. Authorities were called to the scene, where they identified the other victims as 8-year-old Lauren Adewunmi, 6-year-old Samantha Adewunmi, and their 37-year-old
mother, Christine Adewunmi. The family had been reported missing the previous evening by the children's father, Leonard Adewunmi, from their home in Ballwin, Missouri, after he returned from work to find the house empty and was unable to reach his wife.
The investigation conducted by the Crawford County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol revealed that the deaths were the result of a triple murder-suicide. Evidence at the scene indicated that Christine Adewunmi had shot each of her three daughters once in the head with a handgun before turning the weapon on herself. Investigators found the firearm lying near the bodies, and ballistics confirmed it was the weapon used in the killings. Further inquiries established that Christine had purchased the gun from a business in the St. Louis area several weeks prior to the incident.
Law enforcement officials determined that there were no other suspects involved in the tragedy, and no arrests were made as the perpetrator was deceased. The case was officially closed as a murder-suicide. Background information released during the investigation highlighted that Christine Adewunmi had been struggling with mental health issues, including depression and bipolar disorder, and had sought medical evaluation shortly before the events unfolded. The tragedy left the community in Ballwin and the surviving father to grapple with the sudden loss of the entire immediate family.
