Officials say man killed wife and 6 kids, then himself, before all were
found in Michigan home fire
[July 28, 2026]
By JENNIFER PELTZ and DAVE COLLINS
A man fatally shot his wife and their six children, then himself, before
they all were found in their burning Michigan home last week,
investigators said Monday.
Kristopher and Amanda Karolkiewicz and their six children, aged 5 to 15,
died Friday in their home in Grand Haven Township, on the eastern shore
of Lake Michigan. Authorities were summoned for a fire and then
discovered the bodies.
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said in a release Monday that
autopsies determined all the family members died of gunshot wounds, and
that Kristopher Karolkiewicz took his own life. The sheriff's office
said the fire appears to have been set intentionally in multiple parts
of the home after the killings, but officials still are investigating
the origin point.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy that we may never completely
understand," Sheriff Eric DeBoer said in a statement read aloud at a
news conference by one of his deputies, Capt. Jacob Sparks.
Amanda Karolkiewicz, 39, an elementary school substitute teacher who
went by Mandy, “was a kind and devoted soul who loved her family and her
students,” her mother and stepfather, Becky and Steve Lawwill, said in a
statement.
“We treasured every moment we had with her and her six children, and
words cannot adequately address our devastation," they wrote, adding
that they “pray for God’s peace and comfort as we grieve their deaths
and honor their lives."
A message seeking comment was sent Monday to Kris Karolkiewicz's family.
The 47-year-old man was a vice president of sales and marketing for the
American Heart Association from September 2023 to earlier this month,
when his employment ended, the organization said in a statement. The
association did not release further details, saying it does not comment
on personnel matters. While with the AHA, he worked remotely for a
division responsible for CPR and first aid training and products, it
said.
Mandy Karolkiewicz went “above and beyond for students, especially when
they’re having a hard day, responding with empathy, patience, and care,”
as the local school district put it in a Facebook post in January. A
message seeking comment was sent Monday to the Grand Haven Area Public
Schools system.
The couple met at work at a beverage company in 2008 and began dating
that summer, according to a parenting-oriented blog that Mandy
Karolkiewicz kept over a decade ago. The two married in August 2009.
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Community members gather during a student-organized vigil at Duncan
Woods in Grand Haven, Mich. on Sunday, July 26, 2026, to grieve and
honor eight members of a local family who died in a tragedy that has
stunned the lakeshore community. (Isaac Ritchey /The Grand Rapids
Press via AP)
Their first child was born on April 25, 2011, which she hailed as
“the best day of my life (so far).” Two more sons followed over the
next four years, as she shifted from a banking job to a part-time
position at a local insurance agency and later stopped working
outside the home. The couple later adopted two daughters and had
another biological son.
The blog frequently expressed her Christian faith, her joy in the
family and her love and appreciation for her husband and his
parenting.
Kris Karolkiewicz, too, hailed their life together: “I’m a very
lucky guy,” he wrote in a 2019 Facebook post ahead of their 10th
anniversary.
Although her blog ended in 2016, Mandy Karolkiewicz continued
sharing updates on her family and activities in TikTok videos,
including clips of a trip to China earlier this month with two of
her children.
Officials got calls about a smoky smell in the area around the
Karolkiewicz home Friday morning, checked it out but found nothing.
After getting more calls about three hours later, they returned, saw
smoke coming from the home and found the bodies, at least some of
them in bedrooms, Sparks said. Also found were the family’s dogs and
at least one cat, which had perished in the blaze.
It's unclear how much earlier the shootings had happened.
Mandy Karolkiewicz's family endured another loss in 2020, when her
adult stepbrother died from a fentanyl overdose. Friends of her
parents were launching a GoFundMe campaign Monday to help with
expenses and establish a scholarship in the Karolkiewicz children's
memory.
Grand Haven township is a community of about 18,000 people, about a
half-hour drive west of Grand Rapids.
Another shooting wounded five people in Ottawa County early Sunday,
when gunfire broke out at a party at the Bass River Recreation Area.
One person was critically injured. A suspect has been arrested, the
sheriff's office said.
___
Peltz reported from New York and Collins from Hartford, Conn.
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