DES MOINES, Iowa _ Autopsies show that five members of an Iowa City family found dead in their home were beaten to death.

The results show that Sheryl Sueppel and her four children died from blunt force trauma to their upper torsos and heads.

Police believe former bank executive Steven Sueppel killed his wife and children sometime Sunday night or Monday. He had been charged with embezzlement, and his body was found in the wreckage of a car crash Monday morning.

Investigators say they believe he killed his wife, then tried to kill himself and the children by asphyxiating them with carbon monoxide in the garage. When that failed, he killed the children one by one. © 2007 The Canadian Press