Teacher suspected of murdering his family released without charge

THE deputy head of a California elementary school has been released by police who said they did not have enough evidence to charge him with the murder of his estranged wife, mother-in-law and three children.

Vincent Brothers, 41, walked out of jail in North Carolina less than 12 hours after being arrested for "probable cause" and barely a day after he had turned himself in to the authorities.

Police said they still consider him a suspect in the deaths of the five, who were found shot dead in their home in Bakersfield, California, on Tuesday.

But they decided to let him go because of "new information received from another state," they said.

The victims were identified as Joanie Harper, 39, her three children, Marques Harper, four, Lyndsey Harper, 23 months, and Marshall Harper, 14 months and Harper's mother, Earnestine Harper, 70.

A police spokesman said officers do not have the murder weapon, and there are no weapons registered to Brothers.

Brothers told detectives he had been visiting his mother in North Carolina. The spokesman said he was a suspect due to witness accounts and because he "is the husband in this case and is the father in this case".

The FBI and law enforcement agencies across the US had been asked to search for Brothers, 41, after police discovered the bodies.

Bakersfield Police Captain Neil Mahan said that police don't have any other suspects in connection with the shootings.

"That does not mean we are not looking at other people or other motives at this time," Mr Mahan said.

Brothers's blue pickup truck was found on Tuesday at an airport bus terminal in Bakersfield. Mr Mahan said the truck had been there since

July 2 four days before the family was last seen.

Joanie Harper and Brothers were granted an annulment in September 2001 and Ms Harper was given sole custody of Marques and Lyndsey, court records show. It's unclear whether Ms Harper and Brothers had remarried.

Brothers is the father of the children and had periodically lived with the family, said Darren Dixon, 22, a nephew of Earnestine Harper.

Police were called to the home on Tuesday morning.

The bodies of Joanie Harper and her three children were found in a bedroom. Earnestine Harper was found in another room.

The family was last seen alive on Sunday morning when they attended church.