Tulare murder-suicide: Girl, 4, finds mother and father shot to death

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Neighbors are talking about the relationship between a mother and father found dead in their Tulare home early Sunday morning. Investigators say the couple's 4-year-old daughter found her parents after the murder-suicide.

Tulare police say Georgina Rojas-Medina, 41, was shot and killed by her common-law husband, Gerardo Tovar, 44, who then killed himself. Their children discovered the couple's bodies inside the family home on Capistrano Avenue near Maricopa Street just after midnight.

Bloody footprints showed the path the 4-year-old girl had to make after finding her mother shot to death and a father who'd killed himself.

"It sounded like a little girl was really upset, like something really bad happened," said neighbor Richard Campos.

Campos says early Sunday morning he heard the little girl crying, but didn't realize the severity of the situation until he saw the caution tape go up next door. Police say the little girl made her way to a neighbor's house and told them her parents were shot. The neighbor then called police.

"The 4-year-old who was present on scene at the time of the incident was not injured," said Sgt. Andrew Garcia of the Tulare Police Department.

Neighbors in the area say Rojas-Medina and her common-law husband were kind people who always seemed happy together. The couple had been together for 13 years before Tovar killed his common-law wife and then turned the gun on himself.

"They were really friendly. You couldn't tell something was going on between them, and when they were together, they were just like any other couple," said Campos.

Police say the 4-year-old girl and her two siblings, who are 10 and 12 years old, are now in the care of Child Protective Services.