Josh and Emma James with mother Monika Rubacha (l to r).Credit : Monika Karina Rubacha/Facebook

NEED TO KNOW

The mother and two children found dead inside their Florida home on Feb. 26 have been identified as siblings Josh and Emma James and their mother, Monika Rubacha
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said that the deaths were a “double-homicide followed by a suicide”
The father of the siblings requested a welfare check while in South America on business, then flew home, arriving back to the U.S. to find that his wife and two children were deceased

The adult and two children found dead in a Florida home inside an exclusive gated community have been identified by authorities.

Siblings Josh and Emma James were discovered deceased inside their bedrooms at the Lakewood Ranch home on Feb. 26, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies also discovered Monika Rubacha, the children’s mother, dead inside the residence.

The MCSO arrived at the home that night to conduct a welfare check at the behest of the father of the children, who was Rubacha’s husband.

He was in South America at the time on a business trip and told authorities he’d been unable to contact any of his family members.

Upon arriving at the home, “deputies observed circumstances that required them to make entry into the residence” according to the MCSO release.

Deputies then entered the home and encountered a violent crime scene, according to the MCSO.

2 Children and Their Mother Found Dead in ‘Violent Scene’ at Family Home

The family’s Florida home.Manatee County Sheriff’s Office

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An initial investigation into the incident determined that Josh, 14, and Emma, 11, were killed by their mother, according to the MCSO.

Rubacha, 44, then took her own life, in what the MCSO referred to as “a double homicide followed by a suicide.”

All three suffered “traumatic injuries,” the MCSO said.

“This is a horrible, horrible thing for the deputy staff to witness [and] even worse for this father and the husband, who was on his way back from South America,” Public Information Officer Randy Warren said at a press conference the day after the deaths. “He flew in this morning, had to be notified of what happened here. It’s an incredibly emotional day for him. It’s not a good scene at all.”

Warren also said there were no incidents reported at the home in the three years since the family moved to Florida from Missouri.

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“There’s really nothing there that would have indicated this would have happened,” Warren said.

The MCSO said the investigation into the incident is ongoing. The Lake Club at Lakewood Ranch — the gated community where the family lived — released a statement to PEOPLE that read, in part: “Our hearts are with the family and all those affected during this incredibly difficult time.”