Police believe remains of four found in Kenai field to be a murder-suicide

Police believe a mother and her two children found dead in a field in Kenai were killed by a man whose body was found nearby.

The Kenai Police Department on Wednesday announced that the deaths of Rebecca Adams, 22, her daughters Jaracca Hundley, 3, and Michelle Hundley, 5, and boyfriend Brandon Jividen, 37, will be classified as a murder and suicide situation as a result of an investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation coupled with the State Medical Examiner’s findings.

Adams, her two daughters, and boyfriend Jividen disappeared under mysterious circumstances in May 2014. All of their belongings, including clothing, camping gear, vehicles and even the meal they had presumably been eating were left behind.

The family dog, a spaniel named Sparks, was also gone.

The group was missing for nearly ten months as police, firefighters, FBI investigators and volunteers combed the woods near the family’s home in a four-plex on California Avenue.

The bodies were discovered in March in a shallow depression on a privately owned field near Borgen Avenue and Alpine Drive, less than a mile from the apartment.

After identifying the bodies, police would say only that they were pursuing the case as a homicide investigation and that they believed no one else had been involved.

Police believe Jividen shot Adams and her daughters before turning the gun on the family dog and himself. Jividen was found about 13 feet from the murdered woman and children with two handguns and holsters that he had purchased.

Five spent shell casings were found at the scene.

Kenai police would not speculate as to a motive, according to the release, and will likely not be issuing any further media releases on the case.

Some family members said from the beginning that they believed something had gone horribly wrong.

Lanell Adams, Rebecca’s sister, said she got a phone call around Memorial Day weekend in 2014.

“She sounded very distressed,” Lanell Adams said in a previous interview. “She just told me ‘know that I love you,’ and she got off the phone very quickly.”

Lanell Adams said Rebecca Adams would not tell her what was wrong.

“Growing up, we always had this thing … we say ‘thou shall not lie,’ and you always have to tell the truth,” Lanell Adams said. “I asked her, ‘Thou shall not lie Becca, are you OK?’ She said, ‘Don’t ask me that right now, just know that I love you.’”

Reach Rashah McChesney at rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com.