In the small, rural community of Platte, South Dakota, the morning of September 17, 2015, was shattered by the news of a house fire at the Westerhuis family home. First responders arrived to find the structure consumed by flames, and the initial fear was that the family of six had perished in the blaze. The grim discovery of their bodies in the ruins of their home sent a wave of grief through the tight-knit town.
Kailey Westerhuis, a 9-year-old Caucasian female, her parents Scott and Nicole, and her three siblings, Michael, Connor, and Jaeci, were all found deceased.
As investigators began to sift through the ashes, a more sinister story emerged. Autopsies revealed that Kailey and her family had not died from the fire. Instead, they had all suffered fatal shotgun wounds. The investigation concluded that all five family members, including Kailey, died as a result of homicide. No soot was found in their airways, indicating they were deceased before the fire fully engulfed the house. The fire was determined to be arson, intentionally set with an accelerant to destroy the home and the evidence within.
The focus of the investigation quickly turned to the patriarch of the family, Scott Westerhuis. Law enforcement officials determined that he was the sole perpetrator of the horrific event. The South Dakota Attorney General announced that the evidence overwhelmingly pointed to a murder-suicide. It was concluded that Scott Westerhuis shot and killed his wife and their four children before setting their house ablaze and then taking his own life with the same shotgun. Because the perpetrator was also deceased, no arrests were made in connection with the deaths of Kailey and her family. The motive for the tragedy was linked to extreme financial and professional pressures Scott was facing, as it was revealed he and his wife had embezzled over a million dollars from a federally funded program they managed.
