A Missouri father and his two young sons were found dead on Monday just days after they were reported missing, according to police.
Darrell Peak, 40, and his two sons, Kaiden, 4, and Mayson, 3, were found together in Benton County near the area that they were last seen and contacted by law enforcement, Greene County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
“It is with much sadness that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office announces a very tragic ending to the Missing Person’s investigation involving Darrell, Mayson and Kaiden Peak,” police said.
Darrell was last seen around 4 p.m. Feb. 25 in Greene County when he drove away with his two young sons “armed with the pistol he was known to regularly carry,” police said.
A state trooper then made contact with Darrell just 1 1/2 hours later, after noticing Darrell’s vehicle was “disabled.” Police say Darrell refused help. (RELATED: Mom Charged With Murder After Reporting 6-Year-Old Missing, Police Say)
A 911 call at about 7 p.m. reported the trio walking down the highway, but authorities could not find them when they arrived, according to police.
Family filed a missing persons report on Feb. 26 and told authorities that Darrell “had a history of depression” and was acting out of character, but “insisted that he would never harm his children,” according to ABC 7 News.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office said they wanted to issue an Amber Alert but the case did not meet the criteria.
“Individual law enforcement agencies don’t have the authority to just issue an Amber Alert,” Greene County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jason Winston told KCTV 5. “We’ve approached the highway patrol on a few occasions with the information in an attempt to get an Amber Alert put out, but it has not met the criteria. The highway patrol wants to preserve that criteria because we want to protect the seriousness of amber alerts. We don’t want to issue Amber Alerts so much that the public becomes numb to it.”
Police decided to pursue criminal charges for Darrell’s arrest in order to generate additional tips and leads, KCTV 5 reported.
After searching nearby areas over the ensuing days, officers found all three bodies on Monday.
The investigation remains ongoing.