'Complicated': Investigation underway after 3 women found dead in Ohio home, police say

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A homicide investigation is underway after three women were found dead on Saturday at a home in Columbus, Ohio.

Authorities were alerted to the deaths after a friend of the victims called Columbus Police just before 4 p.m. to report a medical event at a home on the city's South Side. Police said the woman had gone to the home to check on her friends when she found them

All three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's unfortunate when someone loses their life, but particularly this time of year, during the holidays, it's going to be very difficult for all of these victims' families to come to grips with that unfortunately,” said Sgt. James Fuqua of the Columbus Police. “These family members will no longer be in their lives."    

An active search was carried out Saturday, but police did not indicate any arrests in the case.

"You see the amount of detectives we have back here that's going to work tirelessly to determine who did this heinous crime and bring justice to the family of these victims." Fuqua told reporters Saturday.

The incident was originally reported as a shooting and police confirmed Sunday afternoon all three victims were pronounced dead at 4 p.m. and all suffered from gunshot wounds.

Some members of the community, like Jeff Frentz, said they had never seen something like this. 

"Other than car accidents, a couple of those out here, but nothing this traumatic. So, yeah, that's kind of a shocker,” Frentz said. “It's unfortunate whoever got hurt or got killed, they got families, they got mothers and fathers."

Fuqua was not immediately available to provide an update on Monday morning. But he said Saturday that investigators were working to crack the "complicated" case.

"There's so many moving parts because investigators obviously aren't sure exactly of everything,” Fuqua said. “So they want to make sure they have a full picture in their head of what actually happened to piece these things together. So that's what makes it so particularly complicated."