CHILLIWACK, B.C. — When Brian Jones saw the Facebook post, he didn't believe it was real — until he read the words "Love Daddio."
In the note, his long-time friend Randy Janzen apparently confessed to killing his daughter, wife and sister. After detailing the disturbing crimes, the British Columbia father signed off with his signature nickname.
"I know Randy and it just sounded like him," said Jones, his voice breaking. "I had to leave work. My hands were shaking. I thought I was going to throw up."
Homicide investigators have said several members of one family, including the suspect, are dead at two crime scenes in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. They have not released identities but confirmed the Facebook post is part of their probe.
A post on Janzen's profile published Thursday said he killed his 19-year-old daughter Emily, to end her suffering from severe migraines, before killing his wife Laurel and sister Shelly.
Jones said he read the post shortly after it went up and immediately began trying to call Janzen. When he didn't pick up, he drove with a friend to Shelly's home in Langley, B.C.
They found at least three days' worth of stacked newspapers on her doorstep — Shelly delivered papers for a living — and her van parked in the driveway. She didn't answer the door.
"We knew something was very seriously wrong," said Jones. "Deep down, I knew it was real."
They thought about kicking her door down or jumping the fence. Instead they drove to the police station, where officers said they had received calls about the Facebook post.
Now, Jones and others close to the family are desperately trying to understand how the friendly, funny guy they knew could possibly be linked to such grisly crimes.
"He was so gentle. He never hurt a fly his whole life. When we were all young and getting in fistfights, Randy didn't do that," he said. "He wasn't a monster."
Jones added he had never known his friend to own a gun or hit his family. Janzen deeply loved his daughter, a talented singer with a voice "like an angel," but her migraines tore him apart, Jones said.
"It consumed him. It really did. He couldn't stand to see her suffer," he said through tears.
Shelly was the polar opposite of her gregarious brother — quiet, shy and somewhat reclusive, Jones said. She lived with her mother for her entire life, including recently at the Langley house, until she died last summer.
Shane Dwight, who played in a band called Marauder with Janzen about 15 years ago, said he met Laurel in his late teens or early 20s. She was a few years older, beautiful and working in a bar, he recalled.
Although he hadn't spoken to Janzen in about a decade, he said they had kept in touch on social media.
"His daughter was everything to him, everything. She was going to become a famous opera singer," he said. "But I guess the last year or two, the migraines and depression became so severe that he just couldn't take it anymore."
Both Emily and Laurel's social media accounts detailed a growing sense of frustration with the young woman's migraines, which forced her to miss university and be hospitalized at one point.
Fraser Health confirmed that Emily was treated by the health authority, but didn't provide further details.
Police have said they received information from social media at 3 p.m. Thursday that led them to a Langley residence, where they found one body. Then they were led to a second location in Rosedale Popkum, near Chilliwack, B.C.
In Rosedale Popkum, a four-hour standoff ensued with a man believed to be inside the residence, until the home caught fire and was quickly engulfed in flames.
