Pleasant Prairie Police Department

2004 New Releases Archive

06/21/2004 | Preliminary Autopsy Findings Announced
(PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WI) The Pleasant Prairie Police Department has received The Kenosha County Medical Examiner's preliminary findings in the investigation into the deaths of Kevin L. Amde and his two sons, Davinci age 6 and Tesla age 3, all of Chicago, whose bodies were found Saturday, tethered together and intentionally weighted, washed up along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the Village of Pleasant Prairie.

The Medical Examiner's Office has reported that the deaths of both children were consistent with drowning. The manner of death in both children is homicide, the Medical Examiner's Office said.

Amde and the two boys are survived by his wife and their mother Veronica, also of Chicago.

In the case of Kevin L. Amde, the cause of death is not inconsistent with drowning however an official ruling on the cause and manner of death are being withheld pending the results of toxicological examination due to the remote possibility that this may be something other than suicide.

Investigators have learned that Kevin Amde was depressed in the days leading up to his disappearance with the children. It is believed that financial problems and the imminent eviction of the family from their apartment may have contributed to his depression.

Police detectives continue to investigate in an effort to determine how and where the three entered the water. Pleasant Prairie Police Chief Brian Wagner concedes however that making that determination will be difficult. "Any idea regarding where they went in is speculation at this point and at the end of the day, we may never know", Wagner said.

"This has been a terrible tragedy and I can't imagine what would possess anyone to do something like this to his children. I doubt that anyone can understand this.", Wagner said.

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