South Dakota fire with six dead likely murder-suicide: authorities

(Reuters) - Authorities believe a man shot his wife and four children to death, set fire to their house in South Dakota and then killed himself, the state attorney general's office said on Tuesday.

All six family members were found dead on Thursday after a fire destroyed their house near Platte, South Dakota, a small city about 110 miles west of Sioux Falls.

State and county investigators believe Scott Westerhuis died by a self-inflicted shotgun wound, the state attorney general's office said in a statement. There are no other suspects, a spokeswoman for the office said.

Preliminary autopsy reports indicate that his wife, Nicole, and children Kailey, Jaeci, Connor and Michael were killed by shotgun wounds and are homicide victims, the attorney general's office statement said.

The Charles Mix County Sheriff's Office and the state Division of Criminal Investigation are conducting interviews, collecting evidence and doing forensic tests, the attorney general's office said.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Eric Walsh)