LEBANON, Mo. -- We're learning more about the deaths of a couple from Lebanon and their son.  The autopsies on the bodies of Todd Johnson, 43, his wife Sheila, 40, and their son Blake, 10, were conducted in Springfield on Saturday.  There is still much more to come in the investigation but right now the sheriff says Sheila and Blake Johnson appeared to be murdered in their home, and Todd Johnson's death appears consistent with suicide.

The first person to hear that something may have gone terribly wrong in the house on Goldenwood Drive in Lebanon was Todd Johnson's brother, via an e-mail message from Todd himself. 

"It was sent at 5-something.  He got it at 7-something," said Laclede County Sheriff Richard Wrinkle.

Todd's brother, on vacation, called a mutual friend in Rogersville.  That friend was with another man, an employee of one of the Sonics that Todd Johnson managed, who said he had just been at the Johnsons' house from around 10 Thursday night to 3 or 4 in the morning.  That man said Todd brought him to the house to steal jewelry, so he could file an insurance claim.  The Rogersville man also said there had been rumors about Todd firing him from his job at a Sonic, but the man said that was not true.

"He was interviewed by the Highway Patrol and one of my investigators.  He cooperated.  He let them take his vehicle from Rogersville to Springfield, where it was examined by the lab up there," said Wrinkle.

The bodies of Sheila Johnson and Blake Johnson were in separate bedrooms of the house.  The Johnsons' 8-year-old son found his mother and brother before a friend came to check on the family. 

"We had people from Child Advocacy do an interview with him," said Wrinkle.

Investigators found three weapons in the room with Sheila Johnson's body.  The autopsies determined she and Blake both died of blunt and sharp force trauma to the head and neck. 

Todd Johnson's body was discovered in his SUV on Friday afternoon after a passerby noticed fresh tracks on the earthen berm around a rock quarry. 

"I didn't think there was a place anybody could even get through, but obviously the vehicle did," said Wrinkle.

Todd Johnson died of a single shotgun wound to the head.  Investigators found a 20-gauge shotgun between his legs, the barrel bent from the approximate 100-foot fall into the quarry.  Investigators say it looks like suicide, but the investigation is far from over.

"We want to get with the Highway Patrol, see if we can get information from the vehicle, talk to some family friends, do some more background on the man that was at the house," said Wrinkle.

Court records from Kansas show Todd Johnson was charged with aggravated robbery, burglary and theft in 1985.  The Johnsons' adult adopted daughter, who does not live in the home, told investigators that Todd did own a 20-gauge shotgun but, again, authorities say the case is not concluded.