DALTON Family - Mt. Airy MD

Investigators are still determining how four people died inside a home in Mt. Airy near the Carroll County line. Troopers
on the scene said it appeared to be a murder scene, but State Police
spokesman Greg Shipley says they are not searching for any suspects.
The victims are preliminarily identified as one adult male, one adult
female, one male child, and one female child. Shipley says the four
are believed to be part of one family.The grim discovery was
made at about 5:30 Friday afternoon inside a home in the 300 block of
Contour Road. A family friend had gone to the home, concerned after
not hearing from them for a few days. State Police spokesman Greg
Shipley says that friend went to the back of the split-level home,
looked in a window, saw what appeared to be a body and called 911. "Troopers
who were inside say it obviously was a murder scene," Shipley said.
"Each body sustained trauma," but he said it was not clear how the
injuries were inflicted.The house sits on a corner lot; there is a for sale sign on the property. According
to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation's Web site, the
property is owned by Charles and Jennifer Dalton.Neighbor Jan
Gillespie said that the people who lived there were Charles Dalton and
his wife, whose name she did not know, and children Chuck, about 13,
and Emiline, about 7. She said the mother did not work outside of the
home, as far as she knew.Gillespie said Charles Dalton had a
cabinet business, worked out of his home and had a work truck. A
company called Imagine Millwork has a Web site listing the home as its
address.Gillespie said the family moved there about two and a half years ago and the house has been for sale for about a year.She said the children seemed happy and she had not seen any sign of trouble between the parents.Another
neighbor, Tom Watkins, said Charles Dalton "always had a smile on his
face and a nice wave." But Watkins said he did not know the family
personally.In April, a man in Middletown in Frederick County
shot and killed his wife and three children before killing himself in
their home.

Mount Airy, Maryland State Police found a
man, a woman and two children dead of traumatic injuries about 5:30
p.m. Friday in a split-level house at the end of a block, officials
said.
After determining they had four people and a family dog dead inside
the home in the 300 block of Contour Road, police set up operations
outside until they could obtain a warrant to search the premises.
"To be on the safe side, we advised the state police to secure a
warrant before conducting a search for evidence," Frederick County
State's Attorney Charlie Smith said.
"That's what we do in all cases involving deaths, no matter what it appears to be."
Police entered the residence at 9:40 p.m. and expected to be inside
the house until the early morning hours today, state police spokesman
Greg Shipley said.
"Troopers who were inside say it obviously was a murder scene,"
Shipley said. However, he added that troopers had determined there was
"no further threat."
Smith said he had talked to the investigator in charge and was told a shotgun was involved in the deaths.
Late Friday, police would not confirm the names of those killed or their apparent causes of death.
The property is owned by Charles L. and Jennifer A. Dalton,
according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation
website. A kitchen construction business, Imagine Millwork, is listed
at the address.
A "for sale" sign is displayed in the front yard. A basketball hoop
stood out front. A minivan was parked in the driveway, a Jeep at the
curb.
Neighbors said the children were a boy and a girl. The boy was a
ninth-grader at Linganore High School who played football. The girl was
a second-grader at Twin Ridge Elementary School.
Troopers went to the residence when a family friend became
concerned, went to the home, looked in a rear window, saw a body and
called police.
Cindy Krauss said her son went to school with and played with the
girl. "She is the sweetest little girl. A polite, well-raised child."
Krauss said the child liked Hannah Montana and Barbies.
"I had to tell my kids," she said. "It was very hard."
Ken Matthews said he knew the family for four to five years. He called them "a great family. Great kids."
Cynthia Bernick said her son, Steven, went with the boy to McDonald's on Thursday night.
Frederick County Public Schools did not have classes Friday because of The Great Frederick Fair.
"He was a nice kid," Bernick said. "Very outgoing, pleasant, well-mannered."
Mark Kaplan said the tragedy "is really devastating for a small town
like Mount Airy . It's hard to see two children die for no reason."

A home-improvement worker and school
janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed
his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun
on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday.Charles L. Dalton, 38, left no suicide note and police haven't clearly identified a motive for the murders, spokesman Greg Shipley said."It is possible that financial difficulties were part of the motive," he said.

Police announced the findings one day after the bodies of Dalton, his
wife Jennifer, 37, and their children Charles Jr., 14, and Emmaline, 7,
were found in their home in Mount Airy, a Fredrick County town of 8,800
about 30 miles west of Baltimore.Shipley
said the bodies of Jennifer Dalton and the children were found in their
beds. Charles Dalton's body was lying in the master bedroom next to the
bed, he said.Dalton also fatally shot the family's beagle in a crate inside the home's front door, he said.Investigators
believe the deaths occurred Thursday night or Friday morning. Shipley
said Jennifer Dalton failed to report to her part-time job at a
veterinary hospital in Damascus, prompting co-workers to try to contact
her starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday. No one answered their calls or came
to the door.A family friend called 911 at about 5:30 p.m. Friday
after spotting a body through a rear window of the split-level house,
Shipley said.Charles Dalton was a self-employed cabinet
installer who ran his business, Imagine Millwork, out of his home. He
also worked the night shift as a maintenance worker for Montgomery
County schools, Shipley said.The house, on a corner lot in a
modest, middle-class neighborhood, had a "for sale" sign out front. It
had been on the market for at least a year, neighbors said.Kenneth
Matthews, a security worker who also runs a carpet-cleaning business
out of his home a few doors down, said Dalton had been scraping by in
the weak economy."He was struggling, just like me," Matthews said. "We're probably running about 40 percent of where we were last year."Matthews
said the Daltons were quiet, churchgoing people who kept largely to
themselves. A whitewashed rock in front of the house bore two Bible
verses: "We will serve the Lord" and "God is our rock."Neighbors
and others placed stuffed animals and flowers on the front porch, near
the children's bicycles and a scooter, to remember the family."We're
just showing our respect," said Erica Mason, who had walked over with
her husband and two young daughters to place a white teddy bear on the
property. She said the deaths hit "pretty close to home - we're a
family of four."Tanya Miller came from her house a half-mile away. "I just wanted to walk around and say a prayer for them," she said.There have been at least four other family murder-suicides in Maryland in the last 2 1/2 years - three involving Frederick County residents.In April, a Middletown man killed his wife and their three children before shooting himself.On
Thanksgiving 2007, a Frederick man fatally shot his ex-wife and their
three children during a custody hand-off in a Montgomery County park.In April 2007, a Montgomery County father hanged his two young children before committing suicide in rural Boyds.In March 2007, a Frederick man killed his wife and four children before hanging himself in the family's town house.

A Mount Airy
cabinetmaker and maintenance worker found dead Friday evening in his
home along with his wife and two children shot them in their sleep
before killing himself, state police said Saturday.

Charles L. Dalton Sr., 38, shot his wife, Jennifer A. Dalton, 37, their
son, Charles L. Dalton Jr., 14, and daughter, Emmaline E. Dalton, 7,
each once in the head Thursday night or Friday morning with a .12-gauge
shotgun, said state police spokesman Greg Shipley.

Police found the children lying in their beds in separate bedrooms at
the front of the house on Contour Road. Jennifer and Charles Sr. were
found in the master bedroom in the back of the house - she was in the
bed, and he was lying on the floor beside it. The gun was found next to
Charles Sr., according to police.

The family dog, a beagle that a neighbor said was named Max, was found
shot to death in a crate inside the house near the front door.

Shipley said state police have closed the investigation. Investigators
found no suicide note and have found no clear indication of a motive
for the killings. Shipley said there is "some preliminary information
that there may have been financial difficulties."

Charles Sr. worked the night shift for Montgomery
County in school maintenance. During the day, he ran a cabinet and
countertop laminate business, Imagine Millwork, out of his house.
Jennifer Dalton worked part time at a veterinary hospital in Damascus
in Montgomery County.

A Realtor's "For Sale" sign stands outside the pale blue, four-level
house with white shutters in a tidy neighborhood of modest
single-family homes in Frederick County.

Neighbors said they believed the Daltons had lived there for about
five years but had been trying to sell the house for at least a year.

Randy Hull, who lives a few doors down on Contour Road, said his
children and the Dalton children knew each other, but he had met
Charles Sr. only once.

Hull was among the neighbors who stopped by the house Saturday as a
makeshift memorial of flower bouquets, stuffed animals and balloons
took shape near the "For Sale" sign.

Wind chimes, low voices and the occasional teenager's skateboard were
the only sounds to be heard on the road, which ends at the Dalton home
as the pavement gives way to a grassy slope.

Charles Jr., who attended Linganore High School in Frederick, had been
a junior firefighter at the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company for about
two years, said Doug Alexander, a spokesman for the organization.
Alexander said he had not met the boy's parents, but that the boy got
along well with everyone and seemed an enthusiastic student of
firefighting.

He was "a likable kid," Alexander said. "Just one of those guys you didn't mind having around."

He said nothing the boy said or did indicated trouble at home. Members
of the fire company were at a loss to understand what happened.

"We were all just stunned," Alexander said.

Chris Bond of Contour Road stopped by the house in the morning with his
daughter, Cara, to leave a stuffed pink dog and three yellow balloons.
He said Cara and Emmaline were friends and classmates at Twin Ridge
Elementary School and that he spoke occasionally with the Daltons.

He said nothing he knew about Charles Sr. gave any hint of stress or depression.

"He would have been the last person I ever thought would do this," said
Bond, describing Charles Sr. as consistently "cordial." He said he had
last talked to Charles Sr. a couple of weeks ago.

William Whitefield, who lives next door to the Daltons, said, "Charles
and I would fence talk," but that he did not know the family well.
"They were just nice people," who often had company to the house for
cookouts and other gatherings.

He said he heard no sounds from the house Thursday night or Friday morning.

"It's amazing how quiet these houses are," Whitefield said. "I don't
know what happened in that house. It's just very sad for anybody to go
to that dark place."

On his company Web site, Dalton said he started cabinetmaking in 1989
and launched the business in 2004. He wrote that he had a "personal
relationship with God."

Neighbors said the Daltons were always away on Sunday mornings,
apparently at church, though it was not immediately clear which church
they attended.

The Daltons had decorated a small patch of yard next to the front door
with items showing their religious devotion. There are ceramic angels
and a white stone painted with Scriptural citations: "Proverbs 3:6" and
"Jeremiah 33:3" and a crucifix - all daubed in red. Another ceramic
piece carries a quotation: "The Lord will command Angels to guard you
in all your ways. Psalm 91:11."