Dispatch audio obtained by Fox News Digital indicated that the house was “full of smoke” that could be seen coming out the windows.
Kristopher Karolkiewicz, 47, and Amanda Karolkiewicz, 39
, were identified as the adults found in the Grand Haven Township home on Friday, July 24.
The children were four boys ages 15, 12, 11 and 5 and two girls, both 11.
Two of the children were adopted.
The Grand Haven Fire Department initially responded to reports of people being able to smell smoke in that area between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Friday, but firefighters couldn’t locate a fire.
Early morning calls for smoke came hours before the devastating discovery.
The family of eight was found dead at their Grand Haven Township home on Friday after firefighters and police were called at 11:42 a.m. EDT for smoke seen coming from the residence.
Additional calls came in shortly after 11:40 a.m., including a report that the house was full of smoke and white smoke was coming from a window.
Jake Sparks of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office told reporters at a press conference.
“This is far more than a news story. This situation personally impacts dozens if not hundreds of people in the county. Our hearts go out to those families, the neighbors and co-workers, the teachers, the students of Grand Haven Public Schools and the friends of the victims,” Sparks said at the press conference.
Autopsies determined that all eight had been shot, and the medical examiner ruled Amanda Karolkiewicz’s death and those of the six children homicides, while Kristopher Karolkiewicz’s death was ruled a suicide.
“The investigation at this point shows that this is a murder-suicide, with the fire being started after the murders,” Sparks said.
Preliminary indications are that the fire was intentionally set in numerous places throughout the interior of the residence.
The family pets also perished due to the fire/smoke.
Kristopher Karolkiewicz was an employee of the American Heart Association from September of 2023 until earlier this month, July 2026, when his employment ended.
Kristopher served as a national vice president of sales and marketing, supporting the division responsible for CPR and first aid training and products, and worked remotely from his home.
The American Heart Association released a statement following the tragedy.
“As an organization with professional staff who are dedicated to helping others, we are devastated by the news out of Grand Haven, and our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who lost their lives in this tragedy,” the organization said.
Amanda Karolkiewicz, who went by Mandy, returned to Michigan from her trip of a lifetime to China with her two adopted girls just days before the murder-suicide.
The mother called it one of the “funniest and coolest” experiences of her life. Her final TikTok post was made on July 17, with Mandy writing, “We are so ready to be home sweet home!”
A Reddit account belonging to Mandy shows their marriage wasn’t as picture-perfect as it appeared.
Karolkiewicz wrote she wouldn’t have worked toward reconciliation with her husband if not for the couple’s six children, four biological and two adopted. “I kept telling myself, ‘I love my kids more than I hate my husband right now.’ They have no idea — I faked it ’till we made it. We’re in a much better place 4.5 years out, but it’s still a fight to stay in a healthy place,” she wrote in posts from roughly two years earlier.
In one Reddit post, she detailed struggles in the marriage.
“We have six kids, so the idea of leaving is insanely terrifying. He’s always had major red flags that I ignored due to my own trauma and anxious attachment,” she wrote in 2024.
Amanda’s parents, Steve and Becky Lawwill, released a statement honoring her memory.
“Amanda’s parents, called their daughter a kind and devoted soul who loved her family and students. “We treasured every moment we had with her and her six children, and words cannot adequately express our devastation,” they said. “We pray for God’s peace and comfort as we grieve their deaths and honor their lives. We ask that the media give our family space in the weeks and months ahead, and that they respect the privacy of all who loved Mandy and the children.”
Amanda’s cousin Emily Jones spoke to local media in the days following the deaths.
“Everybody wants to know why. It’s unfathomable, and we need to know why,” said Emily Stoye Jones, the cousin of Amanda “Mandy” Karolkiewicz told Local 4. “We still want to know. Make it make sense just a little bit, because it doesn’t make sense.”
Steve Lawwill, Mandy’s father, shared a family photo on social media shortly after the killings, writing, “So grateful for the joy they brought into our life. We are just so shattered.”
School officials mourned the loss of a beloved educator.
Grand Haven Public Schools recognized Mandy Karolkiewicz as “a Premier Substitute Teacher at Peach Plains,” saying that she “goes above and beyond for students, especially when they’re having a hard day.” The school said that she responds with “empathy, patience, and care,” and “pours her heart into her work.”
In the viral moment that became public late Tuesday, newly released dispatch audio captured the chaos as emergency crews fought the inferno. Just before 11:45 a.m., officials returned to the 14900 block of Riverside Trail after receiving reports of white smoke coming from a home there. Firefighters and deputies entered the smoke-filled residence to battle the blaze, where they discovered all eight family members dead in different parts of the two-story home. The scale of devastation became clear only as responders moved through the structure: a mother of six, her six children spanning ages five to fifteen, and the father who killed them all before ending his own life. Authorities believe that the incident may have started Thursday night and continued into Friday morning. The case remains under active investigation.