SAN ANTONIO — The soldier who was found dead with his family in an SUV parked in the garage of a San Antonio home was an intelligence analyst, the U.S. Army said.
Staff Sgt. Jared Esquibel Harless along with his wife and four children were found dead Thursday after police went to check on the family in response to a welfare call from his employer.
Sheryll Harless, 36, two boys ages 4 and 11 months, and two girls ages 3 and 1 were found dead when police arrived on the scene in the San Antonio home and detected carbon monoxide. Two cats were also found dead the front seat of the SUV.
Jared Harless, 38, was a 35Q cryptologic cyberspace intelligence collector and analyst, the Army said Saturday. He was assigned to Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the deaths appear to be a murder-suicide, not an accident, though it is too early to confirm. McManus added that the family had been living in the house since January, San Antonio Express-News reported.
Harless joined the force in 2010 and was deployed once to Iraq in 2011, according to the Army. He also served with Fort Sam’s 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, where the Army listed his home in Renton, Washington.
The couple married in 2008 in Washington state, records show. A records search in Bexar County showed they didn’t have any pending legal issues.
