LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Kan. — A family fall picture showing five children smiling among pumpkins is now being used for a GoFundMe page after a horrible tragedy that left two of the children in the photo dead.
Law enforcement investigators believe 40-year-old Donald Jackson killed his 14-year-old son, Logan, and his 12-year-old son, Austin, and then took off with his two daughters before being arrested Saturday evening in Oklahoma near the Texas border.
The search for Jackson began after family members found the boys' bodies.
“There was a family event, a soccer game, that one of the children was supposed to be at, didn’t show up,” said Maj. Jim Sherley, Leavenworth County undersheriff.
The 41 Action News Investigative Team has confirmed both Logan and Austin played soccer for the KC Legends club.
And it appears other families associated with the club are among donors to the GoFundMe page for the boys' mother, Tara, and their sisters.
One man wrote on the page: “We love you Tara. Our prayers are with you and the girls. We’ll miss Austin at the soccer fields dearly.”
Another club, Boulevard Soccer, made a $100 donation to the cause.
Another man who donated said he grew up in that home.
He wrote, “For me that house, that geography was a place of peace and growth. It saddens me that the same patch of hallowed ground has experienced such tragedy and personal loss.”
As of Monday evening, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $44,000.
"When something like this transpires, it’s difficult on the first responders, the family and the community at large,” Sherley said.
A spokesman for KC Legends said club leaders are declining comment at the request of family.
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