Police have found three bodies at the British house destroyed by an arson attack a week ago. Officers also confirm that the family's horses and dogs were shot in the lead-up to the arson.
Police, who are trying to unravel what happened at Osbaston House, Maesbrook, have identified one of the bodies as Jill Foster. She had been shot in the head.
The first two bodies found in the ruins were those of a man and a woman. Mrs Foster was identified through dental records, but police say it is likely to take some time to identify the man.
A rifle was recovered near the two bodies, along with the body of a dog, which had also been shot. The rifle has been identified as a .22 RF rifle owned by Christopher Foster.
Post mortems carried out on three horses and three dogs found in fire-damaged outbuildings showed they had also been shot before the fires broke out. Spent and unspent gun cartridges have been found scattered around the grounds of the property.
Superintendent Gary Higgins, of West Mercia Constabulary, said further tests were needed before it could be established whether the rifle recovered was the murder weapon.
"Further tests are needed to establish whether the rifle found was the one used in the murder and to kill the animals," he said.
Higgins said search teams had been forced to withdraw from the main part of the house last night (UK time) for safety reasons.
"Concerns were raised for the safety of those in the building and the walls of the house had begun to lean in towards where search and forensic teams were working," he said.
"Workers are due to attend the site this morning to make it safe for us to get back inside. We are hopeful of being able to continue with our search and examination later today."
It is expected to take several days, possibly even weeks, to complete the examination of the home, due to the large site and amount of debris in the building.
Detective Superintendent Jon Groves, who is leading the investigation, said the removal of the third body was likely to take some time.
"We had the remains confirmed as human late last night by a Home Office pathologist and work has now become to extract the body," he said.
"Due to its position, it will take some time to remove. We are hoping to get it out by the end of today, with a post mortem taking place either tonight or tomorrow. A forensic archaeologist is due to visit the site this morning to offer specialist advice to those working to recover the body.
"We are not able to release any further information with regards the body at this stage, but will do so once the post mortem has been carried out.
"Although this is now being treated as a murder, we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances leading up to the incident," said Mr Groves.
"There has been a lot of speculation in some sections of the media, which is not helpful to our inquiry.
"Police continue to work around the clock to establish the facts on what happened at Osbaston House that morning and our thoughts remain with the families of Chris, Jill and Kirstie Foster."
Christopher Foster and his daughter Kirstie remain officially unaccounted for at this time, he said.
Mr Groves thanked the local community for its support over the past week.
"We have had a lot of support and understanding from members of the community and I would like to thank residents for that. The search and examination of the property is continuing and is still expected to take several days, possibly even weeks, and I am grateful for the continued support of those living in the area.
"Our thoughts remain with the families of Chris, Jill and Kirstie Foster and we will follow up every possible line of enquiry to establish what happened at Osbaston House in the early hours of Tuesday."
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