A Josephine County family, including three children, died in what appears to be a murder-suicide, officials said.

Sheriff’s deputies went to a house, west of Merlin, on Monday after receiving a report that a woman living there hadn’t shown up for work. Deputies and state police entered the house and found the five people, who appeared to have been shot to death, Oregon State Police said Wednesday.

Hannah Marie Behee, 42, along with two boys, 11 and 9 years old, and a 7-year-old girl were all dead, with gunshot wounds, officials said. Police also found the body of the suspect in the killings, Chad Scott Behee, 40.

Property records show Chad and Marie Behee are co-owners of a property in the 200 block of Hussey Lane, where police said they found the bodies.

Court records indicate Chad Behee may have had a troubled youth.

At around age 17, he was living with guardians who were not his parents when he was was taken to a hospital for the “fourth or fifth time cutting his wrist,” one of the guardians wrote in a letter to the court in 2002.

That same year, Chad Behee left the guardians’ home and started to live at the Jackson Street Youth Shelter, according to court records.

— Fedor Zarkhin is a breaking news and enterprise reporter. Do you have a story? Reach him by phone or text at 971-373-2905 or by email at fzarkhin@oregonian.com.