Wrong-way I-94 crash leads police to find bodies of driver's wife, two kids at Van Buren Twp. home

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Michael Van Der Linden
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Wife, two children stabbed


Photographer: WXYZ
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted: 08/16/2012

(WXYZ) - A fatal crash in Indiana led police to discover three additional bodies in the crash victim's home in Van Buren Township.

Police in Indiana responded to a vehicle crash on I-94 at the 43 mile marker where two drivers were found dead Thursday morning.

Authorities say it happened around 1:30 a.m. They believe a vehicle was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes. It collided head-on with a second vehicle, igniting a fire. 

Both 45-year-old Juan Nelson Jr. of Portage Indiana and 38-year-old, wrong way driver Michael Vanderlinden of Belleville, Michigan were pronounced dead at the scene.

LaPorte County Medical Examiner John Sullivan says Van Buren Twp. Police went to Vanderlinden's home around 8:30 a.m. to notify his family of the crash.

Police didn't get an answer at the door and  talked with neighbors. 

Neighbors told police it  was odd because Vanderlinden's wife is a stay-at-home mom and her two children are out of school.

The front door was also open.

Police entered the home and discovered a woman in her mid-30s and two young boys, ages 4 and 7, had been stabbed to death in the home.

Sources say the victims have been tentatively identified as Linda Vanderlinden and her boys Matthew, 4, and Julian, 7.

There was no sign of forced entry or a robbery. There had been no prior domestic calls to the home. The victims were found in separate bedrooms. The two boys were found in their beds. Their mother's body was found on the floor of a bedroom. She was fully dressed.

It is believed that a large kitchen knife was used as the murder weapon.

STAY WITH WXYZ.COM and 7 ACTION NEWS FOR DETAILS.

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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