Four young people found shot to death in Clear Lake home [Houston Tx]

Houston Chronicle ^ | 7-19-03 | ROBERT CROWE and RUTH RENDON

[deport]

July 19, 2003, 3:05AM

Four young people found shot to death in Clear Lake home

By ROBERT CROWE and RUTH RENDON
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Four people in their late teens or early 20s were found dead, apparently shot to death, in a Clear Lake-area house Friday night.

Karen Warren / Chronicle

Houston police officers and detectives investigate the scene where four people were found dead in a house in the 3700 block of Mill Bridge in Clear Lake on Friday evening.

No motive or suspects had been determined in the deaths of two men and two women at the house in the 3700 block of Millbridge.

"All appeared to have been shot, and there is no motive right now," said Robert Hurst, Houston Police Department spokesman.

"It is a major crime scene still under investigation and will be for some time," he said.

Witnesses who knew the victims entered the house about 6:30 p.m., Hurst said. He could not say if they were related to any of the victims or if they also lived at the address.

The exact time of the shootings had not been determined, Hurst said.

The victims appeared to be Hispanic, police said. Friends of the home's residents said it is owned by Chester Rowell, who lives there with his daughter, Tiffany, who is in her late teens.

Neighbors said Chester Rowell was in Cincinnati on Friday, helping another daughter move.

Angie Stone, 26, rushed to the house after finding out about the killings. She said Rowell is a music teacher at San Jacinto College and that she took flute lessons in his home during high school and college.

"We came out here because we are concerned. We just don't know what's happening," Stone said.

The residence is in the Brook Forest subdivision, where houses range in value from $140,000 to $250,000, said Hussein Hammoud, who lives in the neighborhood.

"It's kind of scary, because you move to a neighborhood like this to avoid crime," said Hammoud, 36.

Friends said Tiffany Rowell graduated last spring from Clear Lake High School.

Some of her former classmates stood outside the house, hopeful she was not involved.

Friends were surprised to see Tiffany's late model pickup, bearing a large blue decal that said "Baby Girl," parked halfway over the curb in front of the house.

Katie Wall, 19, who graduated from Clear Lake High in 2002, was in drama classes with Tiffany.

"She's the sweetest, most bubbly person," said Wall, who recently saw Tiffany at a nearby shopping mall.

Wall said she and some friends discussed only days ago how strange and tragic events seem to happen in Clear Lake.

"In Clear Lake, you never know what's going to happen," she said.

Although Wall said she was not surprised that four deaths could occur in the area, she was shocked that it happened in the Brook Forest subdivision.

[deport]

Karen Warren / Chronicle

Houston police officers, investigating the scene where four people were found dead in a Clear Lake house Friday evening, talk to an unidentified woman who, police said, knew the victims involved and came to the scene in tears.

[BellStar]

Brook Forest subdivision. Wow! A lot of us moved to the South Shore in Galveston County in the 90's as we saw this coming. But it has followed us too.

[Joe Hadenuf]

These kinds of things just don't seem to make big news anymore.

[gaijin]

Sounds like another KANSAS CITY story to me...

[afraidfortherepublic]

This story does not say if any of the victims sere residents of the home!

[deport]

This story does not say if any of the victims sere residents of the home!

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They still aren't releasing much info pending notification of next of kin according to an update on the Chronicle....

All of them had been shot multiple times and two had been beaten about their heads, police said today.

No motive or suspects had been determined in the deaths of two men and two women at the house in the 3700 block of Millbridge.

The names of the victims are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin.

[FITZ]

If they're affluent, it seems drug dealing or smuggling would be likely.

[FITZ]

If they're affluent, it seems drug dealing or smuggling would be likely.

[MeekOneGOP]

Ugly . . .

[norton]

Papa was out of town and the daughter's truck was parked across the curb...

No mention of the daughter who should have been driving the truck.

Unless "Baby Girl" turns up in custody; I'd vote for someone's having jacked the kid for her car, keys, and wallet.

[deport]

Lots of unknowns at this time based upon what's in the media.... They were discovered at 6:30pm on Friday...... So when did the event occur... during the day Friday or the night before? Lots of possibilities at this stage...

[Mark Felton]

I live in the neighborhood. The house is about 100 yards as the crow flies from my house.

latest reports are that the girl who lived there (Tiffany Rowell) was one of the 4 murdered, along with her boyfriend and her cousin and boyfriend.

My 12 year old son called us in tears when he heard from his friend next door (he was at home today when he heard). We were out on errands came straight home.

[BellStar]

You have done what the media could not or would not. I D'd the victims. Sorry your son had to have this come into his young life. I live in Kemah not to far away.

[norton]

First I'd heard that the girl was one of the victims. I thought the news report stated they were hispanic and may have assumed that (if so) neither "Tiffany" nor "Rowell" seemed to fit.

In either case, a tragedy in a town I've enjoyed visiting.

[deport]

Additional article and info from Sunday's Chronicle...

The victims were identified Saturday as Tiffany Nichole Rowell and her best friend, Rachael Ann Koloroutis, both 18; Rowell's boyfriend, Marcus Ray Precella, 19; and Precella's cousin, Adelbert Nicholas Sanchez, 21. Three of them -- Rowell, Koloroutis and Precella -- were former Clear Lake High School students. The women had graduated in May.