Autopsy confirms Ottawa County family died of gunshot wounds

4/19/2011

PORT CLINTON — Members of the Atwater family — the man who killed his family and then himself — each died from a single gunshot wound in the head, Dr. Jerome McTague, Ottawa County coroner, said Tuesday in statement.

Alan Atwater, 31, in a 911 call early Saturday said that he shot his family and that he intended to kill.

Inside one room at the Atwater home, 964 Leutz Rd. in Salem Township, authorities found the bodies of Atwater, his wife, Dawn, 30, and their children, Ashley, 4; Isaac, 2, and Brady, 1.

Dr. McTague in a news release said that autopsies were completed Tuesday on all family members, and that the findings were “consistent with evidence viewed on scene.”

Atwater worked full time at the Davis-Besse nuclear power station. His wife was a stay-at-home mother.

The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the deaths.