Police: Mom, 2 daughters found dead inside closet

Family friend finds woman, daughters in their N.W. Miami-Dade home

MIAMI ā€“ The bodies of a woman and her 4 and 8-year-old daughters were found in a closet in their Northwest Miami-Dade home, on the 7300 block of NW 4th Street.

A family friend with access to the house found the bodies Tuesday afternoon.

"She smelled a foul order," Miami-Dade Police spokesman Roy Rutland told Local 10's Baron James. "And she searched the house and went inside the bedroom where she found a mother and her two daughters dead inside of a closet."

Detectives say they don't know how long the three had been dead.

"Was there sign of gunshot wounds or blunt force trauma?" asked James.

"We are investigating this as a murder; however the cause and manner of death we haven't released yet," Rutland replied.

"We just saw them like two days ago in their front yard," neighbor Kristopher Delgado said. "They were nice people overall. It troubles us to see this now because we wouldn't expect anything to happen to them like this."

Police say the woman also has a 6-year-old son.

"We have that little boy located," Rutland said. "He is safe. He has not been harmed. Unfortunately, we have his two sisters and their mom murdered here in this house behind me."

As of Tuesday night, Miami-Dade police hadn't released the family's identities, pending notification of other relatives.

Investigators said they are following several leads.