Robbery has been ruled out as a motive in the gruesome deaths of a woman and her two adult sons in Florida, killings that authorities speculate may have been carried out as part of a ritual.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said they've identified a person of interest in last week's deaths of a 77-year-old woman and her sons, aged 49 and 47.
The family was so reclusive that longtime neighbours say they would not have recognised them if they saw them.
All three victims were struck multiple times with a claw hammer and had their throats slit, and the older son also had a gunshot to his right ear, Morgan said.
The initial investigation points toward some kind of "ritualistic killing" Morgan said on Tuesday.
"The method of the murder - blunt force trauma ... positioning of the bodies - and our person of interest has some ties to a faith or religion that is indicative of that," Morgan said at a press conference.
He added that that the time of death "coincides with what's referred to as a blue moon, which occurs every three years."
There were no signs of forced entry and investigators found a large amount of cash inside a safe at the home, which led them to rule out robbery as a motive.
The blue moon, a rare second full moon in a single month, occurred on Friday, July 31, three days after the killings. The sheriff did not explain the discrepancy.
Neighbours said the victims kept to themselves.
"If they knocked on my door right now, I wouldn't recognise them," said neighbour Donald Dorin, who has lived two doors down from the family for nearly 40 years, but had no interaction with them.
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