{"id":964230,"date":"2026-07-28T08:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/964230\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:42:28","slug":"ottawa-county-mans-employment-ended-weeks-before-murder-suicide-of-wife-six-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/964230\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa County man\u2019s \u2018employment ended\u2019 weeks before murder-suicide of wife, six children"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich.<\/strong> \u2013 The man Ottawa County investigators say killed his wife and six children in a murder-suicide left his job in the weeks before their murders, Local 4 has confirmed.<\/p>\n

Kristopher Karolkiewicz worked for the American Heart Association from September 2023 until earlier this month, when his \u201cemployment ended\u201d in July 2026, the organization said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The organization said he served as national vice president of sales and marketing, supporting the division responsible for CPR and first aid training and products, and worked remotely from his home. He did not work in the American Heart Association\u2019s local Michigan offices or with its local Michigan operations, the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an organization with professional staff who are dedicated to helping others, we are devastated by the news out of Grand Haven, and our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who lost their lives in this tragedy,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa County Sheriff\u2019s Office said eight people were found dead Friday inside a burning home on Riverside Trail in Grand Haven Township, west of Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

The deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide. Amanda \u201cMandy\u201d Karolkiewicz, 39, and six children were killed, and 47-year-old Kristopher \u201cKris\u201d Karolkiewicz died by suicide, investigators said.<\/p>\n

After forensic autopsies at Corewell Health\u2013Blodgett, investigators determined all eight deaths were caused by gunshot wounds, the Ottawa County Sheriff\u2019s Office said Monday.<\/p>\n

Capt. Jake Sparks said investigators believe Kris Karolkiewicz killed his wife and their children before taking his own life. Michigan State Police arson investigators are working to determine the cause and origin of the fire. Preliminary information indicates the fire was intentionally set in multiple locations inside the house and was started after the killings, Sparks said.<\/p>\n

Sparks confirmed the weapon used was registered to Kris Karolkiewicz and said there had been no prior police calls to the home. Local 4 found he has no prior criminal history.<\/p>\n

Officials said the couple had four boys \u2014 ages 15, 12, 11 and 5 \u2014 and two girls, both 11. Four of the children were biological and two were adopted, investigators said. Family pets also died from fire and smoke.<\/p>\n

Grand Haven Area Public Schools Superintendent Kristin Perkowski called it \u201ca devastating incident\u201d and said the district was preparing to provide support to those who need it, even though school is not in session.<\/p>\n

In an earlier social media post, Grand Haven Public Schools recognized Mandy Karolkiewicz as a substitute teacher at Peach Plains Elementary, describing her as someone who \u201cgoes above and beyond for students,\u201d responding with \u201cempathy, patience, and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities asked anyone with information to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff\u2019s Office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT (745368) or submit a tip here<\/b><\/a>. <\/p>\n

A GoFundMe has been created to support the family. Donations can be made here<\/b><\/a>. <\/b><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. \u2013 The man Ottawa County investigators say killed his wife and six children in a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":964231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,67265,52],"class_list":["post-964230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-ottawa-county","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116996718620473264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}