Police have charged a 31-year-old man with first-degree murder after the bodies of sisters Britny Haarup and Ashley Key were found in Missouri.
Platte County Attorney Eric Zahnd says Clifford D. Miller of Hartville was charged Monday in the deaths of 19-year-old Haarup and 22-year-old Key, on Friday.
The women's bodies were found late Sunday near Trimble in Clinton County.
They were reported missing Friday after Haarup's fiance, Matt Meyers, found his 6- and 18-month old daughters alone at the home they shared in Edgerton, about 35 miles north of Kansas City.
"(Haarup) is a very good mother, she would never leave her kids at home, especially for that amount of time,” Cassandra Meyers, Haarup’s sister-in-law, told Fox 4.
Relatives of the women said there was blood on the couch and on bed sheets in the home, and both the women's purses and cell phones were still there.
Meyer's father's white truck was also missing from the driveway of the home. Authorities found the truck parked on a gravel road Saturday, prompting authorities to search the surrounding fields. Although there were no initial signs of foul play, the truck was towed to the Kansas City crime laboratory to check for evidence.
Family members said Key, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, had been running with a bad crowd and sought her sister's help turning her life around.
“They’re mothers, they’re human, they’re people. They’re everybody’s daughter,” Paul Haarup told Fox 4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.