VALLEY PARK, Mo. (AP) – A 6-year-old child is in protective custody after being found unharmed in a suburban St. Louis home where his parents died in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police were called to the home in Valley Park around 11:15 a.m. Monday after school district officials expressed concern that the boy wasn’t in school. The boy answered the door when police arrived.

The St. Louis County medical examiner’s office determined that the child’s father, 50-year-old James Delao, fatally stabbed his wife and the child’s mother, 46-year-old Kimberly Delao, then stabbed himself to death.

County police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman says the boy was present during the incident, but it’s unclear how much he witnessed. Police believe the stabbings occurred late Saturday or early Sunday.