AP Features, April 2nd, 2007
Two years after a teenage gunman went on a rampage at the Red Lake Indian Reservation, the community is grieving once again.
The bodies of two young brothers missing since November were found encased in ice Sunday about a half-mile from where they lived. Authorities have not determined whether foul play was involved.
Tristan Anthony White, 4, and Avery Lee Stately, 2, were found by a volunteer search in First Thunders Lake. Police dogs picked up their scent, FBI Special Agent Ralph Boelter said.
"Today our worst fears were confirmed," Boelter said.
The brothers had been missing since Nov. 22.
The two boys, both American Indian, disappeared while playing outside their home at the remote reservation near the Canadian border.
The reservation was also where 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend on the reservation on March 21, 2005, then went to the high school and killed seven more people, including a teacher and a security guard, before killing himself.
After the two boys went missing, First Thunders Lake was searched by divers and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers scoured the area.
The initial ground search was called off five days later, and Boelter said rescuers resumed on Sunday in hopes the warmer weather would help the search.
One theory is that the boys wandered from their home about a quarter-mile to the southern edge of the lake, then walked across the partially frozen water before falling through the ice, Boelter said.
Alicia White, the mother of the boys, and Jeff Stately, the father of Avery, both said in the past they believed someone abducted the children.
Authorities plan to conduct an autopsy on the boys in the coming days, which Boelter said could help them determine exactly what happened.
"I'm grateful that we found the bodies. Obviously it's very tragic for the families involved as well as the Red Lake Community," Boelter said.
