In Memoriam
ASTRA VOLK
October 14, 1982 ~ May 3, 2018
Astra Volk of Grand Forks, North Dakota
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Astra Volk
October 14, 1982 - May 03, 2018
Astra Felicia Nicole Volk, 35, of Grand Forks, ND died unexpectedly in her home on Thursday, May 3, 2018.
Astra was born on October 14, 1982 in Pottstown, PA the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Knaup) Wambold. She attended Port Charlotte High School, in Port Charlotte, FL and went on to earn her Emergency Medical Technician Certification.
Astra married Brian Talmage in 2003. Over the next eight years, the couple welcomed four children into their home, Brendan, Tyler, Aidan and Arianna.
In 2015, Astra married Heath Volk in Grand Forks, ND. She accepted three new stepdaughters into her heart.
Astra was a generous, caring individual who loved to help out those in need in any way she could. She was passionate about making sure she always tried to improve everyone’s situation.
Astra is survived by her son, Brendan Talmage, Thief River Falls, MN;
Her mother, Elizabeth Richards, Ft. Ogden FL;
Her husband, Heath Volk, Grand Forks, ND and her 3 stepdaughters, Promise Volk, Serena Volk and Nonnah Volk, all of Grand Forks, ND.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be directed to https://www.gofundme.com/astra-and-children or the mental health facility of choice.
Celebration of Life: 1:00 p.m. Saturday, May 12, 2018 in Valley Christian Church, 3920 Cherry Street, Grand Forks, ND, with Pastor Chris Dawes officiating.
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
All are welcome to attend and celebrate Astra’s life.
SERVICES
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Valley Christian Church
3920 Cherry Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
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GUEST BOOK
Elizabeth A.McWilliams of Arvilla,ND ~ May 12, 2018
*Families of ASTRA, deepest sympathy to you.Our Children Have left this world way to soon.We pray they are at peace in another world.Many have shed tears over your loss.not only your daughter,also lovely grandchildren.So sorry.sending Hugs.May God’s love Comfort you!
Katie ~ May 11, 2018
*Condolences to everyone affected. Astra was a good, kind & loving person and that's how I will choose to forever remember her. Astra was one of my first "mom" friends in this area. I will remember Astra for the fun & loving individual that she was. My favorite memory...Astra trying to get Tyler out the door for preschool. It never failed...Tyler always needed to use the bathroom right before the bus came. We had a good laugh over it because the school had made reference to Tyler not wearing shoes upon arrival one day. Astra was like, "they're lucky the only thing missing was his shoes!" I enjoyed every conversation, every chance we had to treat ourselves to an iced coffee treat and our window shopping excursions. We both provided each other with a much needed break from mom & married life!
Lois ~ May 11, 2018
*So sorry for your loss of Astra and her children. Mental illness is something I understand. Thinking of you.
Dan and Eadie Weigle of Fort Ogden, Florida ~ May 11, 2018
*May the good Lord bless you and keep you. May he wrap his loving arms around you and give you peace. Amen
Barb Layton ~ May 11, 2018
*I am so sorry for your loss. In the bible we find hope and comfort. Ps. 34:18 "God is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit."
Kelly Matthews of Orwigsburg PA ~ May 10, 2018
*Oh Astra, I am soo sorry the system failed you and your children! I am so sorry you had to feel so much pain. I can only imagine how you must have felt to do what you did! I am hurt and angry, yet understand what depression feels like. You and your children were so very important! I wish you could have felt and seen how much, without the veil of mental illness clouding your mind. I will not stop fighting for those who need a light in the darkness. I am just sorry I was too late for you, and Precious Tyler, and Precious Aiden, and Precious Arianna. I can only hope what my Christian faith teaches us is true. And that is that you are no longer hurting. But forgiven and been made new, in a place of unfathomable beauty, with the Lord and Savior. We will continue to mourn the loss of your presence here on earth. And of your amazing children. Be at peace. Kelly
Aunt karen of New holland ~ May 10, 2018
My darling niece and god daughter ! I watched you grow as you struggled threw life ! But you did it for 35 years I will never understand why u gave up ! I can still see u on my sofa with little Adriana making her laugh! Going and getting a gift box for all the kids at the candy store and cup cakes ! It cost u more to send it then u paid for it and you made sure you got them every thing they liked ! I am sorry I will never see u again on this earth but I know you gave your life to Jesus and I know u are there waiting for us !! Love u my sweet Astra
Susan Hoffarth of 4303 Cottonwood St ~ May 10, 2018
*So sorry for your loss. You have been in my thoughts everyday. God be with you always!
Elizabeth Richards ~ May 10, 2018
*My sweet sweet daughter, I write this as I cry. So many are hurt by what you did. So many unanswered questions. Know that I have always loved you. Your named means STAR. I know you are no longer in pain. I know how long you have suffered. I don’t know why you were born with it. But know one thing twinkle bell. I would have given my life for you to have been free from it. I know you loved your babies, I knew everything about you. You had my heart my kindness and my quirky ness. I so glad you took my gift and came to Florida. I did think you and the kids were coming back home in a few months to live . I now longer have to worry about you and the children for now I know the Lord has you and and them you are safe and whole. Give your dad a big hug and kiss for me too. You will be forever missed Your loving Mom
Willam and Phyllis Knaup of Ft. Ogden Florida ~ May 10, 2018
*Astra, Your Nan and Pop will miss you and the phone calls we had with you. We will miss the children and the times we got to spend with you. We only wish we could have done more to heal your hurt. We will miss you always and you will continually be in our thoughts and prayers. Till we meet again on the Heavenly Shores. Wait patiently our Dear Astra, Tyler, Arianna and Aiden. Love, Nan and Pop Knaup
Shannon Gomez of Florissant, Colorado ~ May 10, 2018
*Heather Ray and I are thinking of you and the girls. We love you
Josephine A Wieder of Allentown ~ May 09, 2018
*My Dear Astra, No one will ever know the pain that you carried with you all these years. I'm sorry that we didn't stay in touch as we should have. I only wish that there would have been a better communication between us. The love we feel for you will never die. What you did was a tragedy that no one can explain. We are all grieving for what we have lost, you and your beautiful children. Your mother will not have you to scold or hold or talk to but she will remember the sweet little girl that you once were. Your mental illness took you all from us so I hope that this tragedy will bring much needed awareness to your condition and all those who suffer from it. We're angry but in time it will ease. No one can condemn unless they walk in your shoes. No one knows unless it has happened to them. I only hope that your soul is at peace. I hope you daddy was there to greet you and the children. We can only hope in the Risen Christ that he has spared you anymore agony. Praying for you and the children and missing you all. Much Love, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Bill, Jeff and Cody too.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
GRAND FORKS MOM FOUND DEAD WITH 3 KIDS HAD FINANCIAL TROUBLES
May 4, 2018 at 8:42 pm
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A single mother who was found dead of gunshot wounds along with her three children had recently moved into a rental property in North Dakota and had been struggling to pay off medical bills.
Astra Volk, 35, and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead Thursday at their home in Grand Forks. Police went to the house after officials from Aiden and Arianna’s school requested a welfare check.
Police have not officially classified the killings as murder-suicide or explained what happened, citing the ongoing investigation, but they said all four died of gunshot wounds and a handgun was found in the house with the bodies.
They said they are not looking for any suspects.
Grand Forks police Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday: “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered anything to indicate that anybody other than the four inside the residence were involved.”
Johnson said authorities believe the shootings happened sometime during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.
When asked who fired the shots, or whether a note or explanation was left behind, he said he could not comment.
Court records show Volk divorced the children’s father in 2013 and was granted primary residential responsibility for four children — the three who died, in addition to another child who was born in 2001 and would be 16 or 17. It was not immediately clear if the older child was the biological child of Volk, her husband or both.
Neither Volk nor her ex-husband was ordered to pay spousal support, according to divorce records. Attempts to reach Volk’s ex-husband and family members were unsuccessful Friday.
But there were signs that Volk was struggling with finances. Grand Forks County court documents show a collection agency went to court to get money from Volk for unpaid medical bills. During the last six months of 2017, she was ordered to pay about $3,750.
A woman by the same name set up a GoFundMe account April 25 seeking money to help pay off medical bills she said were brought about in part for treatment for a mental illness. The woman said she was working full-time but that her wages had been garnished.
The fundraising account had been deleted Friday.
Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where Volk lived, said Thursday that the family had moved into the neighborhood just a couple of months earlier.
“Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness,” she said.
Stevens said the house “sat empty forever” until it was recently renovated. She said the woman was living there as a renter, but that she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours and the long winter kept the kids indoors.
Kelley Bakken, who manages a gas station in town, said she had gotten to know Volk a few years ago after they met through an auction app on Facebook. The two women became friends, and Bakken had gotten to know the children.
“She was a good mom, loved her kids, loved her family,” Bakken said, adding that Volk also helped in the community with different benefits. “It seemed like a normal, everyday family.”
Bakken said she didn’t know about Volk’s financial issues, or that a fundraising page had been started. Bakken said she saw the whole family last Saturday, when they came into the gas station where she worked, and she saw no signs of trouble.
“Everybody was happy-go-lucky,” Bakken said. “I’m still in complete and utter shock.”
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POLICE CONFIRM GRAND FORKS MOTHER KILLED CHILDREN, HERSELF IN HOME
By Andrew Haffner on May 7, 2018 at 11:52 p.m.
GRAND FORKS -- Police confirmed Monday what many had felt, and feared, to be true of a grim discovery last Thursday, May 3 -- that three children found dead in their home were killed by their mother, who then committed suicide.
That conclusion had been assumed the night before by Beth Richards, the mother of Astra Volk, 35, who flew from her home in Florida the day after she was told by authorities that her daughter and grandchildren -- Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14 -- were dead. Richards spoke at a Sunday night, May 6, vigil outside the rented home the family had lived in for about the last two months of their lives.
“This is the worst thing a mother can do, I agree with everyone on that,” Richards said.
She still loved her daughter and always would. But, as she stood in the growing dusk and the candlelight of the mourners, she was angry, both at Volk for what she’d done and with what she saw as a lack of resources available to help the mentally ill.
Well before her death, Volk had publicly discussed her struggles with mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder. She had posted a plea just a week before the deaths to the fundraising site GoFundme, seeking financial aid to cover living expenses while paying off medical expenses.
Richards said her daughter had attempted suicide in February, for what she believed was the first time. In the time since, she thought her daughter had been “feeling good,” on top of her symptoms and starting fresh in a newly-rented house.
Richards didn’t try to guess exactly what had happened in the hours before a school resource officer found the bodies of Volk and her children in that house, dead of gunshot wounds.
“We can’t walk into her mind, as she was then,” Richards said.
She said her daughter had always wanted what was best for her children. In a dark twist, Richards guessed that, in the state her daughter was in at the time of the killings, shooting the children must have felt like that.
“Things might have been spiraling out of control over the past few days, before it happened,” she said.
Volk was born in Pottstown, Penn., to Richards and her late husband, a Vietnam war veteran. According to Richards, who said she also has bipolar disorder, Volk had struggled with her own mental illness since adolescence.
Trained as a certified nursing assistant, Volk had managed her condition over the years with varied success. Richards is now waiting for an autopsy report to see if her daughter had been taking all of her medications at the time of her death.
As Volk lived with her issues, so did her four children. Her oldest son was not living with the family at the time of their deaths and is still alive. Richards didn’t say where he is now, but said he wants to be a nurse like his grandmothers, a goal they fully support.
His younger siblings were raised in large part by Volk’s husband, Heath Volk.
The surviving Volk stood vigil as the crowd dissipated, pausing for a long time by the front door of the home. He wasn’t ready to speak to a reporter about his family but showed a small jacket he held throughout, a child’s sweatshirt embroidered with Arianna Talmage’s initials.
He had met Astra Volk when Arianna was 6 months old, he said, and had raised the girl.
Richards described Arianna as the “princess” of the family, a little girl who loved to dance and wanted to be a cheerleader. Heath Volk had been the only father she’d ever known.
Both Arianna and Aiden, the middle of the three, were students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, located just blocks from their new home. Aiden loved animals -- especially chickens. Richards showed off pictures of her grandchildren to those at the vigil, laughing at an image of Aiden holding a chicken owned by a neighbor in Florida.
Tyler, a freshman at Central High School, had autism and a bright smile. In Astra Volk’s social media profiles, the teenager can be seen grinning with his siblings, an arm slung over their shoulders. All three children were close to mind Sunday night.
The vigil began in silence. Volk had been active in social media communities, and many of those who gathered with candles along the edge of the family lawn now covered in a makeshift memorial of pinwheels, stuffed animals and bouquets had first met her online.
A child’s bicycle, lying on its side in the grass, had been covered in a mound of these offerings.
Neighbors walked over during the evening to stand with the mourners. Some watched from their front stoops.
Richards spoke briefly at the start of the vigil, telling the group that she had no answers for them, though she wished she did.
The family members were found dead Thursday morning by a school resource officer dispatched on a welfare check when the children didn’t arrive at school in the morning. Police said the family members appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
Though investigators didn’t initially call the incident a murder-suicide, they announced early on that they’d found a handgun in the home, weren’t looking for any suspects and didn’t believe there was any ongoing threat to public safety.
A Monday, May 7, news release from Grand Forks Police made that implicit statement much more clear.
“Preliminary investigative results have determined that Astra Volk took the lives of her three children and then took her own life,” the release said. “All evidence gathered up to this point, as well as the preliminary autopsy findings, support this determination.”
Grand Forks Police Lt. Brett Johnson said that evidence includes physical findings in the family’s home. It also includes Volk’s digital communications, including her texts messages and social media presence, and interviews with those who knew the family. Local agencies have been assisted in the investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Even with an apparent conclusion, police said the investigation of the deaths “remains open and active” and encouraged the public to come forward with any available information.
“We’re still analyzing some of the electronic evidence that we picked up and we want to make sure we’ve exhausted all potential interviews with friends, family and witnesses,” Johnson said.
“We have a pretty good idea how it happened, just now we want to figure out why it happened.”
Johnson said the investigation will likely remain active until an autopsy of the bodies closes out, a process that takes about 6-8 weeks and includes a full toxicology report.
Anyone with information about this case can call (701) 787-8004 or contact police on the department website or Facebook page.
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GRAND FORKS POLICE OPEN HOMICIDE CASE AFTER WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOME
Andrew Haffner Forum News Service May 3, 2018
GRAND FORKS -- Police have opened a homicide case -- but aren’t currently seeking any suspects -- after a Grand Forks woman and her three children were found dead in their home Thursday morning.
The bodies of Astra Volk, 35, and her children Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14, were found in their home on the 1000 block of South 12th Street during a welfare check requested by Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where the two younger children were students.
An October newsletter from the school indicates Volk was a co-treasurer of the elementary school’s parent teacher organization.
Police say all four family members died of gunshot wounds. Authorities recovered a handgun in the house. In an evening press conference outside the family home, Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said he couldn’t answer definitively whether that same gun was used to kill the family, nor where in the house the bodies were found.
He didn’t answer when asked about other details of the scene.
“I think any time that you have a scene where children are dead, it’s a horrific scene,” Zimmel said. “The condition of the house and anything related to that really doesn’t matter. … It’s a great tragedy, and I think we’re all going to be affected by it.”
Zimmel also didn’t answer when asked if police believe Volk had killed her children and herself, saying the agency needed further investigation before assigning action or motive to anyone in the home. But he did tell reporters to consider what authorities have said -- they found a gun in the house and aren’t looking for any suspects right now.
What comes next, Zimmel said, is a “whole lot of interviewing, evaluating evidence.”
“We’re trying to determine not only what exactly happened but, to the best of our ability, why it happened, ensuring the safety and mental and emotional health of all who might be impacted by this,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Quiet neighborhood
As he spoke, the dark clouds and drizzling rain of night closed over a neighborhood that stunned neighbors had earlier described as “quiet.”
Passing motorists slowed to watch the house, some aiming smartphones at the scene for video, others pausing for a longer look or a word with bystanders. The Grand Forks Police community resource officer arrived to remove a caged pet from the house, the front of which had been covered by investigators with a dark privacy screen.
Investigators are still piecing together the timeline of events that led a school resource officer to discover the bodies of the family in their rented home just blocks from Lewis and Clark.
What’s already known is that school administrators asked the officer to conduct a welfare check on the home after the younger children didn’t arrive at school, a practice Zimmel said Grand Forks schools use on a “case by case basis.”
Once there, an officer peering through a window saw what looked to be a body. Police forced entry to the home and discovered the four deceased. Authorities still don’t know when the family was killed nor how long their bodies were in the home before being found.
Police closed down a stretch of roadway to accommodate a daylong investigation with assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the home where the family had lived for only about two months.
Family in need
A troubled picture emerged of the Volk household. Just over a week ago, Volk had posted a plea for monetary assistance to fundraising site GoFundMe, seeking help in a post titled “Living expenses due to medical bills.”
In the post, Volk said she and her two sons “suffer from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression, autism” and that all had been “hospitalized for this.”
“I work full time but my wages have recently been garnished for medical bills,” she wrote. “I’m looking for help with 1 month’s bills to help get on our feet and look for a second job. I am trying to stay positive so I do not end up back in the hospital.”
Volk, who said on social media that she worked at Cirrus Aircraft, said the family was getting help from food pantries.
Court records show Volk had been in civil court three times in the past year for collections totaling to $3,700. Neighbors believed she was living alone with the children and was separated from her husband and their father.
Those same neighbors stood throughout the day on porches and sidewalks, talking among themselves or to the detectives moving door-to-door for information.
A small, pink bicycle lay on its side on the front lawn of the home. Though all the visible windows were shut fast, the garage door hung half-opened, slightly crooked. The door to the mailbox was open too, revealing at least a day’s worth of mail.
Many of those who lived nearby didn’t know Volk or her children well. Before police announced the case as a homicide, speculation had swirled as to how the family died in the home, which longtime residents say had recently been overhauled by its owners since going largely uninhabited since the flood of 1997.
Paula Stevens was at the edge of the cordon at midday, standing with her arms folded, watching investigators at their work. She lives a few houses away and has been in the neighborhood for years.
“I hadn’t met them yet, and I had only barely seen them,” Stevens said.
Still, even with little personal connection, the depth of the tragedy was easy to feel.
“It makes your stomach go like ‘Woah,’ ” she said, gesturing with a clenching hand. “I can’t even grasp what might have happened here.”
The investigation of that is still ongoing.
Police will remain at the home until satisfied they’ve found everything they need to answer the questions that remain, Zimmel said.
The department asks anyone with information to contact police at (701) 787-8000.
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MOM AND HER THREE KIDS KILLED BY GUNSHOTS IN GRAND FORKS
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Valley News Live) We now know the names of the four people found dead in a home near an elementary school this morning in Grand Forks.
Astra Volk is the mom. She's the parent of the children who were also found dead in the home along the 1000 block of south 12th street near Lewis and Clark elementary school.
Officers found the bodies while performing a welfare check on the kids, which was requested by the school. The children who were found deceased are: 6 year old Arianna Talmage, 10 year-old Aidan Talmage, and 14 year-old Tyler Talmage.
Police tell Valley News Live early indications are that all four family members died from gunshots. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
We've also uncovered a Go Fund Me page that Astra Volk set up eight days ago. She wrote about her and the boys suffering from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression and autism. Volk wrote that she was looking for help with paying medical bills.
ASTRA VOLK
October 14, 1982 ~ May 3, 2018
Astra Volk of Grand Forks, North Dakota
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Astra Volk
October 14, 1982 - May 03, 2018
Astra Felicia Nicole Volk, 35, of Grand Forks, ND died unexpectedly in her home on Thursday, May 3, 2018.
Astra was born on October 14, 1982 in Pottstown, PA the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Knaup) Wambold. She attended Port Charlotte High School, in Port Charlotte, FL and went on to earn her Emergency Medical Technician Certification.
Astra married Brian Talmage in 2003. Over the next eight years, the couple welcomed four children into their home, Brendan, Tyler, Aidan and Arianna.
In 2015, Astra married Heath Volk in Grand Forks, ND. She accepted three new stepdaughters into her heart.
Astra was a generous, caring individual who loved to help out those in need in any way she could. She was passionate about making sure she always tried to improve everyone’s situation.
Astra is survived by her son, Brendan Talmage, Thief River Falls, MN;
Her mother, Elizabeth Richards, Ft. Ogden FL;
Her husband, Heath Volk, Grand Forks, ND and her 3 stepdaughters, Promise Volk, Serena Volk and Nonnah Volk, all of Grand Forks, ND.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be directed to https://www.gofundme.com/astra-and-children or the mental health facility of choice.
Celebration of Life: 1:00 p.m. Saturday, May 12, 2018 in Valley Christian Church, 3920 Cherry Street, Grand Forks, ND, with Pastor Chris Dawes officiating.
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
All are welcome to attend and celebrate Astra’s life.
SERVICES
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Valley Christian Church
3920 Cherry Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
GUEST BOOK
Elizabeth A.McWilliams of Arvilla,ND ~ May 12, 2018
*Families of ASTRA, deepest sympathy to you.Our Children Have left this world way to soon.We pray they are at peace in another world.Many have shed tears over your loss.not only your daughter,also lovely grandchildren.So sorry.sending Hugs.May God’s love Comfort you!
Katie ~ May 11, 2018
*Condolences to everyone affected. Astra was a good, kind & loving person and that's how I will choose to forever remember her. Astra was one of my first "mom" friends in this area. I will remember Astra for the fun & loving individual that she was. My favorite memory...Astra trying to get Tyler out the door for preschool. It never failed...Tyler always needed to use the bathroom right before the bus came. We had a good laugh over it because the school had made reference to Tyler not wearing shoes upon arrival one day. Astra was like, "they're lucky the only thing missing was his shoes!" I enjoyed every conversation, every chance we had to treat ourselves to an iced coffee treat and our window shopping excursions. We both provided each other with a much needed break from mom & married life!
Lois ~ May 11, 2018
*So sorry for your loss of Astra and her children. Mental illness is something I understand. Thinking of you.
Dan and Eadie Weigle of Fort Ogden, Florida ~ May 11, 2018
*May the good Lord bless you and keep you. May he wrap his loving arms around you and give you peace. Amen
Barb Layton ~ May 11, 2018
*I am so sorry for your loss. In the bible we find hope and comfort. Ps. 34:18 "God is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit."
Kelly Matthews of Orwigsburg PA ~ May 10, 2018
*Oh Astra, I am soo sorry the system failed you and your children! I am so sorry you had to feel so much pain. I can only imagine how you must have felt to do what you did! I am hurt and angry, yet understand what depression feels like. You and your children were so very important! I wish you could have felt and seen how much, without the veil of mental illness clouding your mind. I will not stop fighting for those who need a light in the darkness. I am just sorry I was too late for you, and Precious Tyler, and Precious Aiden, and Precious Arianna. I can only hope what my Christian faith teaches us is true. And that is that you are no longer hurting. But forgiven and been made new, in a place of unfathomable beauty, with the Lord and Savior. We will continue to mourn the loss of your presence here on earth. And of your amazing children. Be at peace. Kelly
Aunt karen of New holland ~ May 10, 2018
My darling niece and god daughter ! I watched you grow as you struggled threw life ! But you did it for 35 years I will never understand why u gave up ! I can still see u on my sofa with little Adriana making her laugh! Going and getting a gift box for all the kids at the candy store and cup cakes ! It cost u more to send it then u paid for it and you made sure you got them every thing they liked ! I am sorry I will never see u again on this earth but I know you gave your life to Jesus and I know u are there waiting for us !! Love u my sweet Astra
Susan Hoffarth of 4303 Cottonwood St ~ May 10, 2018
*So sorry for your loss. You have been in my thoughts everyday. God be with you always!
Elizabeth Richards ~ May 10, 2018
*My sweet sweet daughter, I write this as I cry. So many are hurt by what you did. So many unanswered questions. Know that I have always loved you. Your named means STAR. I know you are no longer in pain. I know how long you have suffered. I don’t know why you were born with it. But know one thing twinkle bell. I would have given my life for you to have been free from it. I know you loved your babies, I knew everything about you. You had my heart my kindness and my quirky ness. I so glad you took my gift and came to Florida. I did think you and the kids were coming back home in a few months to live . I now longer have to worry about you and the children for now I know the Lord has you and and them you are safe and whole. Give your dad a big hug and kiss for me too. You will be forever missed Your loving Mom
Willam and Phyllis Knaup of Ft. Ogden Florida ~ May 10, 2018
*Astra, Your Nan and Pop will miss you and the phone calls we had with you. We will miss the children and the times we got to spend with you. We only wish we could have done more to heal your hurt. We will miss you always and you will continually be in our thoughts and prayers. Till we meet again on the Heavenly Shores. Wait patiently our Dear Astra, Tyler, Arianna and Aiden. Love, Nan and Pop Knaup
Shannon Gomez of Florissant, Colorado ~ May 10, 2018
*Heather Ray and I are thinking of you and the girls. We love you
Josephine A Wieder of Allentown ~ May 09, 2018
*My Dear Astra, No one will ever know the pain that you carried with you all these years. I'm sorry that we didn't stay in touch as we should have. I only wish that there would have been a better communication between us. The love we feel for you will never die. What you did was a tragedy that no one can explain. We are all grieving for what we have lost, you and your beautiful children. Your mother will not have you to scold or hold or talk to but she will remember the sweet little girl that you once were. Your mental illness took you all from us so I hope that this tragedy will bring much needed awareness to your condition and all those who suffer from it. We're angry but in time it will ease. No one can condemn unless they walk in your shoes. No one knows unless it has happened to them. I only hope that your soul is at peace. I hope you daddy was there to greet you and the children. We can only hope in the Risen Christ that he has spared you anymore agony. Praying for you and the children and missing you all. Much Love, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Bill, Jeff and Cody too.
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GRAND FORKS MOM FOUND DEAD WITH 3 KIDS HAD FINANCIAL TROUBLES
May 4, 2018 at 8:42 pm
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A single mother who was found dead of gunshot wounds along with her three children had recently moved into a rental property in North Dakota and had been struggling to pay off medical bills.
Astra Volk, 35, and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead Thursday at their home in Grand Forks. Police went to the house after officials from Aiden and Arianna’s school requested a welfare check.
Police have not officially classified the killings as murder-suicide or explained what happened, citing the ongoing investigation, but they said all four died of gunshot wounds and a handgun was found in the house with the bodies.
They said they are not looking for any suspects.
Grand Forks police Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday: “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered anything to indicate that anybody other than the four inside the residence were involved.”
Johnson said authorities believe the shootings happened sometime during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.
When asked who fired the shots, or whether a note or explanation was left behind, he said he could not comment.
Court records show Volk divorced the children’s father in 2013 and was granted primary residential responsibility for four children — the three who died, in addition to another child who was born in 2001 and would be 16 or 17. It was not immediately clear if the older child was the biological child of Volk, her husband or both.
Neither Volk nor her ex-husband was ordered to pay spousal support, according to divorce records. Attempts to reach Volk’s ex-husband and family members were unsuccessful Friday.
But there were signs that Volk was struggling with finances. Grand Forks County court documents show a collection agency went to court to get money from Volk for unpaid medical bills. During the last six months of 2017, she was ordered to pay about $3,750.
A woman by the same name set up a GoFundMe account April 25 seeking money to help pay off medical bills she said were brought about in part for treatment for a mental illness. The woman said she was working full-time but that her wages had been garnished.
The fundraising account had been deleted Friday.
Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where Volk lived, said Thursday that the family had moved into the neighborhood just a couple of months earlier.
“Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness,” she said.
Stevens said the house “sat empty forever” until it was recently renovated. She said the woman was living there as a renter, but that she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours and the long winter kept the kids indoors.
Kelley Bakken, who manages a gas station in town, said she had gotten to know Volk a few years ago after they met through an auction app on Facebook. The two women became friends, and Bakken had gotten to know the children.
“She was a good mom, loved her kids, loved her family,” Bakken said, adding that Volk also helped in the community with different benefits. “It seemed like a normal, everyday family.”
Bakken said she didn’t know about Volk’s financial issues, or that a fundraising page had been started. Bakken said she saw the whole family last Saturday, when they came into the gas station where she worked, and she saw no signs of trouble.
“Everybody was happy-go-lucky,” Bakken said. “I’m still in complete and utter shock.”
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POLICE CONFIRM GRAND FORKS MOTHER KILLED CHILDREN, HERSELF IN HOME
By Andrew Haffner on May 7, 2018 at 11:52 p.m.
GRAND FORKS -- Police confirmed Monday what many had felt, and feared, to be true of a grim discovery last Thursday, May 3 -- that three children found dead in their home were killed by their mother, who then committed suicide.
That conclusion had been assumed the night before by Beth Richards, the mother of Astra Volk, 35, who flew from her home in Florida the day after she was told by authorities that her daughter and grandchildren -- Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14 -- were dead. Richards spoke at a Sunday night, May 6, vigil outside the rented home the family had lived in for about the last two months of their lives.
“This is the worst thing a mother can do, I agree with everyone on that,” Richards said.
She still loved her daughter and always would. But, as she stood in the growing dusk and the candlelight of the mourners, she was angry, both at Volk for what she’d done and with what she saw as a lack of resources available to help the mentally ill.
Well before her death, Volk had publicly discussed her struggles with mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder. She had posted a plea just a week before the deaths to the fundraising site GoFundme, seeking financial aid to cover living expenses while paying off medical expenses.
Richards said her daughter had attempted suicide in February, for what she believed was the first time. In the time since, she thought her daughter had been “feeling good,” on top of her symptoms and starting fresh in a newly-rented house.
Richards didn’t try to guess exactly what had happened in the hours before a school resource officer found the bodies of Volk and her children in that house, dead of gunshot wounds.
“We can’t walk into her mind, as she was then,” Richards said.
She said her daughter had always wanted what was best for her children. In a dark twist, Richards guessed that, in the state her daughter was in at the time of the killings, shooting the children must have felt like that.
“Things might have been spiraling out of control over the past few days, before it happened,” she said.
Volk was born in Pottstown, Penn., to Richards and her late husband, a Vietnam war veteran. According to Richards, who said she also has bipolar disorder, Volk had struggled with her own mental illness since adolescence.
Trained as a certified nursing assistant, Volk had managed her condition over the years with varied success. Richards is now waiting for an autopsy report to see if her daughter had been taking all of her medications at the time of her death.
As Volk lived with her issues, so did her four children. Her oldest son was not living with the family at the time of their deaths and is still alive. Richards didn’t say where he is now, but said he wants to be a nurse like his grandmothers, a goal they fully support.
His younger siblings were raised in large part by Volk’s husband, Heath Volk.
The surviving Volk stood vigil as the crowd dissipated, pausing for a long time by the front door of the home. He wasn’t ready to speak to a reporter about his family but showed a small jacket he held throughout, a child’s sweatshirt embroidered with Arianna Talmage’s initials.
He had met Astra Volk when Arianna was 6 months old, he said, and had raised the girl.
Richards described Arianna as the “princess” of the family, a little girl who loved to dance and wanted to be a cheerleader. Heath Volk had been the only father she’d ever known.
Both Arianna and Aiden, the middle of the three, were students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, located just blocks from their new home. Aiden loved animals -- especially chickens. Richards showed off pictures of her grandchildren to those at the vigil, laughing at an image of Aiden holding a chicken owned by a neighbor in Florida.
Tyler, a freshman at Central High School, had autism and a bright smile. In Astra Volk’s social media profiles, the teenager can be seen grinning with his siblings, an arm slung over their shoulders. All three children were close to mind Sunday night.
The vigil began in silence. Volk had been active in social media communities, and many of those who gathered with candles along the edge of the family lawn now covered in a makeshift memorial of pinwheels, stuffed animals and bouquets had first met her online.
A child’s bicycle, lying on its side in the grass, had been covered in a mound of these offerings.
Neighbors walked over during the evening to stand with the mourners. Some watched from their front stoops.
Richards spoke briefly at the start of the vigil, telling the group that she had no answers for them, though she wished she did.
The family members were found dead Thursday morning by a school resource officer dispatched on a welfare check when the children didn’t arrive at school in the morning. Police said the family members appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
Though investigators didn’t initially call the incident a murder-suicide, they announced early on that they’d found a handgun in the home, weren’t looking for any suspects and didn’t believe there was any ongoing threat to public safety.
A Monday, May 7, news release from Grand Forks Police made that implicit statement much more clear.
“Preliminary investigative results have determined that Astra Volk took the lives of her three children and then took her own life,” the release said. “All evidence gathered up to this point, as well as the preliminary autopsy findings, support this determination.”
Grand Forks Police Lt. Brett Johnson said that evidence includes physical findings in the family’s home. It also includes Volk’s digital communications, including her texts messages and social media presence, and interviews with those who knew the family. Local agencies have been assisted in the investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Even with an apparent conclusion, police said the investigation of the deaths “remains open and active” and encouraged the public to come forward with any available information.
“We’re still analyzing some of the electronic evidence that we picked up and we want to make sure we’ve exhausted all potential interviews with friends, family and witnesses,” Johnson said.
“We have a pretty good idea how it happened, just now we want to figure out why it happened.”
Johnson said the investigation will likely remain active until an autopsy of the bodies closes out, a process that takes about 6-8 weeks and includes a full toxicology report.
Anyone with information about this case can call (701) 787-8004 or contact police on the department website or Facebook page.
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GRAND FORKS POLICE OPEN HOMICIDE CASE AFTER WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOME
Andrew Haffner Forum News Service May 3, 2018
GRAND FORKS -- Police have opened a homicide case -- but aren’t currently seeking any suspects -- after a Grand Forks woman and her three children were found dead in their home Thursday morning.
The bodies of Astra Volk, 35, and her children Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14, were found in their home on the 1000 block of South 12th Street during a welfare check requested by Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where the two younger children were students.
An October newsletter from the school indicates Volk was a co-treasurer of the elementary school’s parent teacher organization.
Police say all four family members died of gunshot wounds. Authorities recovered a handgun in the house. In an evening press conference outside the family home, Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said he couldn’t answer definitively whether that same gun was used to kill the family, nor where in the house the bodies were found.
He didn’t answer when asked about other details of the scene.
“I think any time that you have a scene where children are dead, it’s a horrific scene,” Zimmel said. “The condition of the house and anything related to that really doesn’t matter. … It’s a great tragedy, and I think we’re all going to be affected by it.”
Zimmel also didn’t answer when asked if police believe Volk had killed her children and herself, saying the agency needed further investigation before assigning action or motive to anyone in the home. But he did tell reporters to consider what authorities have said -- they found a gun in the house and aren’t looking for any suspects right now.
What comes next, Zimmel said, is a “whole lot of interviewing, evaluating evidence.”
“We’re trying to determine not only what exactly happened but, to the best of our ability, why it happened, ensuring the safety and mental and emotional health of all who might be impacted by this,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Quiet neighborhood
As he spoke, the dark clouds and drizzling rain of night closed over a neighborhood that stunned neighbors had earlier described as “quiet.”
Passing motorists slowed to watch the house, some aiming smartphones at the scene for video, others pausing for a longer look or a word with bystanders. The Grand Forks Police community resource officer arrived to remove a caged pet from the house, the front of which had been covered by investigators with a dark privacy screen.
Investigators are still piecing together the timeline of events that led a school resource officer to discover the bodies of the family in their rented home just blocks from Lewis and Clark.
What’s already known is that school administrators asked the officer to conduct a welfare check on the home after the younger children didn’t arrive at school, a practice Zimmel said Grand Forks schools use on a “case by case basis.”
Once there, an officer peering through a window saw what looked to be a body. Police forced entry to the home and discovered the four deceased. Authorities still don’t know when the family was killed nor how long their bodies were in the home before being found.
Police closed down a stretch of roadway to accommodate a daylong investigation with assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the home where the family had lived for only about two months.
Family in need
A troubled picture emerged of the Volk household. Just over a week ago, Volk had posted a plea for monetary assistance to fundraising site GoFundMe, seeking help in a post titled “Living expenses due to medical bills.”
In the post, Volk said she and her two sons “suffer from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression, autism” and that all had been “hospitalized for this.”
“I work full time but my wages have recently been garnished for medical bills,” she wrote. “I’m looking for help with 1 month’s bills to help get on our feet and look for a second job. I am trying to stay positive so I do not end up back in the hospital.”
Volk, who said on social media that she worked at Cirrus Aircraft, said the family was getting help from food pantries.
Court records show Volk had been in civil court three times in the past year for collections totaling to $3,700. Neighbors believed she was living alone with the children and was separated from her husband and their father.
Those same neighbors stood throughout the day on porches and sidewalks, talking among themselves or to the detectives moving door-to-door for information.
A small, pink bicycle lay on its side on the front lawn of the home. Though all the visible windows were shut fast, the garage door hung half-opened, slightly crooked. The door to the mailbox was open too, revealing at least a day’s worth of mail.
Many of those who lived nearby didn’t know Volk or her children well. Before police announced the case as a homicide, speculation had swirled as to how the family died in the home, which longtime residents say had recently been overhauled by its owners since going largely uninhabited since the flood of 1997.
Paula Stevens was at the edge of the cordon at midday, standing with her arms folded, watching investigators at their work. She lives a few houses away and has been in the neighborhood for years.
“I hadn’t met them yet, and I had only barely seen them,” Stevens said.
Still, even with little personal connection, the depth of the tragedy was easy to feel.
“It makes your stomach go like ‘Woah,’ ” she said, gesturing with a clenching hand. “I can’t even grasp what might have happened here.”
The investigation of that is still ongoing.
Police will remain at the home until satisfied they’ve found everything they need to answer the questions that remain, Zimmel said.
The department asks anyone with information to contact police at (701) 787-8000.
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MOM AND HER THREE KIDS KILLED BY GUNSHOTS IN GRAND FORKS
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Valley News Live) We now know the names of the four people found dead in a home near an elementary school this morning in Grand Forks.
Astra Volk is the mom. She's the parent of the children who were also found dead in the home along the 1000 block of south 12th street near Lewis and Clark elementary school.
Officers found the bodies while performing a welfare check on the kids, which was requested by the school. The children who were found deceased are: 6 year old Arianna Talmage, 10 year-old Aidan Talmage, and 14 year-old Tyler Talmage.
Police tell Valley News Live early indications are that all four family members died from gunshots. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
We've also uncovered a Go Fund Me page that Astra Volk set up eight days ago. She wrote about her and the boys suffering from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression and autism. Volk wrote that she was looking for help with paying medical bills.
In Memoriam
ASTRA VOLK
October 14, 1982 ~ May 3, 2018
Astra Volk of Grand Forks, North Dakota
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Astra Volk
October 14, 1982 - May 03, 2018
Astra Felicia Nicole Volk, 35, of Grand Forks, ND died unexpectedly in her home on Thursday, May 3, 2018.
Astra was born on October 14, 1982 in Pottstown, PA the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Knaup) Wambold. She attended Port Charlotte High School, in Port Charlotte, FL and went on to earn her Emergency Medical Technician Certification.
Astra married Brian Talmage in 2003. Over the next eight years, the couple welcomed four children into their home, Brendan, Tyler, Aidan and Arianna.
In 2015, Astra married Heath Volk in Grand Forks, ND. She accepted three new stepdaughters into her heart.
Astra was a generous, caring individual who loved to help out those in need in any way she could. She was passionate about making sure she always tried to improve everyone’s situation.
Astra is survived by her son, Brendan Talmage, Thief River Falls, MN;
Her mother, Elizabeth Richards, Ft. Ogden FL;
Her husband, Heath Volk, Grand Forks, ND and her 3 stepdaughters, Promise Volk, Serena Volk and Nonnah Volk, all of Grand Forks, ND.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be directed to https://www.gofundme.com/astra-and-children or the mental health facility of choice.
Celebration of Life: 1:00 p.m. Saturday, May 12, 2018 in Valley Christian Church, 3920 Cherry Street, Grand Forks, ND, with Pastor Chris Dawes officiating.
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
All are welcome to attend and celebrate Astra’s life.
SERVICES
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Valley Christian Church
3920 Cherry Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
GUEST BOOK
Elizabeth A.McWilliams of Arvilla,ND ~ May 12, 2018
*Families of ASTRA, deepest sympathy to you.Our Children Have left this world way to soon.We pray they are at peace in another world.Many have shed tears over your loss.not only your daughter,also lovely grandchildren.So sorry.sending Hugs.May God’s love Comfort you!
Katie ~ May 11, 2018
*Condolences to everyone affected. Astra was a good, kind & loving person and that's how I will choose to forever remember her. Astra was one of my first "mom" friends in this area. I will remember Astra for the fun & loving individual that she was. My favorite memory...Astra trying to get Tyler out the door for preschool. It never failed...Tyler always needed to use the bathroom right before the bus came. We had a good laugh over it because the school had made reference to Tyler not wearing shoes upon arrival one day. Astra was like, "they're lucky the only thing missing was his shoes!" I enjoyed every conversation, every chance we had to treat ourselves to an iced coffee treat and our window shopping excursions. We both provided each other with a much needed break from mom & married life!
Lois ~ May 11, 2018
*So sorry for your loss of Astra and her children. Mental illness is something I understand. Thinking of you.
Dan and Eadie Weigle of Fort Ogden, Florida ~ May 11, 2018
*May the good Lord bless you and keep you. May he wrap his loving arms around you and give you peace. Amen
Barb Layton ~ May 11, 2018
*I am so sorry for your loss. In the bible we find hope and comfort. Ps. 34:18 "God is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit."
Kelly Matthews of Orwigsburg PA ~ May 10, 2018
*Oh Astra, I am soo sorry the system failed you and your children! I am so sorry you had to feel so much pain. I can only imagine how you must have felt to do what you did! I am hurt and angry, yet understand what depression feels like. You and your children were so very important! I wish you could have felt and seen how much, without the veil of mental illness clouding your mind. I will not stop fighting for those who need a light in the darkness. I am just sorry I was too late for you, and Precious Tyler, and Precious Aiden, and Precious Arianna. I can only hope what my Christian faith teaches us is true. And that is that you are no longer hurting. But forgiven and been made new, in a place of unfathomable beauty, with the Lord and Savior. We will continue to mourn the loss of your presence here on earth. And of your amazing children. Be at peace. Kelly
Aunt karen of New holland ~ May 10, 2018
My darling niece and god daughter ! I watched you grow as you struggled threw life ! But you did it for 35 years I will never understand why u gave up ! I can still see u on my sofa with little Adriana making her laugh! Going and getting a gift box for all the kids at the candy store and cup cakes ! It cost u more to send it then u paid for it and you made sure you got them every thing they liked ! I am sorry I will never see u again on this earth but I know you gave your life to Jesus and I know u are there waiting for us !! Love u my sweet Astra
Susan Hoffarth of 4303 Cottonwood St ~ May 10, 2018
*So sorry for your loss. You have been in my thoughts everyday. God be with you always!
Elizabeth Richards ~ May 10, 2018
*My sweet sweet daughter, I write this as I cry. So many are hurt by what you did. So many unanswered questions. Know that I have always loved you. Your named means STAR. I know you are no longer in pain. I know how long you have suffered. I don’t know why you were born with it. But know one thing twinkle bell. I would have given my life for you to have been free from it. I know you loved your babies, I knew everything about you. You had my heart my kindness and my quirky ness. I so glad you took my gift and came to Florida. I did think you and the kids were coming back home in a few months to live . I now longer have to worry about you and the children for now I know the Lord has you and and them you are safe and whole. Give your dad a big hug and kiss for me too. You will be forever missed Your loving Mom
Willam and Phyllis Knaup of Ft. Ogden Florida ~ May 10, 2018
*Astra, Your Nan and Pop will miss you and the phone calls we had with you. We will miss the children and the times we got to spend with you. We only wish we could have done more to heal your hurt. We will miss you always and you will continually be in our thoughts and prayers. Till we meet again on the Heavenly Shores. Wait patiently our Dear Astra, Tyler, Arianna and Aiden. Love, Nan and Pop Knaup
Shannon Gomez of Florissant, Colorado ~ May 10, 2018
*Heather Ray and I are thinking of you and the girls. We love you
Josephine A Wieder of Allentown ~ May 09, 2018
*My Dear Astra, No one will ever know the pain that you carried with you all these years. I'm sorry that we didn't stay in touch as we should have. I only wish that there would have been a better communication between us. The love we feel for you will never die. What you did was a tragedy that no one can explain. We are all grieving for what we have lost, you and your beautiful children. Your mother will not have you to scold or hold or talk to but she will remember the sweet little girl that you once were. Your mental illness took you all from us so I hope that this tragedy will bring much needed awareness to your condition and all those who suffer from it. We're angry but in time it will ease. No one can condemn unless they walk in your shoes. No one knows unless it has happened to them. I only hope that your soul is at peace. I hope you daddy was there to greet you and the children. We can only hope in the Risen Christ that he has spared you anymore agony. Praying for you and the children and missing you all. Much Love, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Bill, Jeff and Cody too.
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GRAND FORKS MOM FOUND DEAD WITH 3 KIDS HAD FINANCIAL TROUBLES
May 4, 2018 at 8:42 pm
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A single mother who was found dead of gunshot wounds along with her three children had recently moved into a rental property in North Dakota and had been struggling to pay off medical bills.
Astra Volk, 35, and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead Thursday at their home in Grand Forks. Police went to the house after officials from Aiden and Arianna’s school requested a welfare check.
Police have not officially classified the killings as murder-suicide or explained what happened, citing the ongoing investigation, but they said all four died of gunshot wounds and a handgun was found in the house with the bodies.
They said they are not looking for any suspects.
Grand Forks police Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday: “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered anything to indicate that anybody other than the four inside the residence were involved.”
Johnson said authorities believe the shootings happened sometime during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.
When asked who fired the shots, or whether a note or explanation was left behind, he said he could not comment.
Court records show Volk divorced the children’s father in 2013 and was granted primary residential responsibility for four children — the three who died, in addition to another child who was born in 2001 and would be 16 or 17. It was not immediately clear if the older child was the biological child of Volk, her husband or both.
Neither Volk nor her ex-husband was ordered to pay spousal support, according to divorce records. Attempts to reach Volk’s ex-husband and family members were unsuccessful Friday.
But there were signs that Volk was struggling with finances. Grand Forks County court documents show a collection agency went to court to get money from Volk for unpaid medical bills. During the last six months of 2017, she was ordered to pay about $3,750.
A woman by the same name set up a GoFundMe account April 25 seeking money to help pay off medical bills she said were brought about in part for treatment for a mental illness. The woman said she was working full-time but that her wages had been garnished.
The fundraising account had been deleted Friday.
Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where Volk lived, said Thursday that the family had moved into the neighborhood just a couple of months earlier.
“Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness,” she said.
Stevens said the house “sat empty forever” until it was recently renovated. She said the woman was living there as a renter, but that she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours and the long winter kept the kids indoors.
Kelley Bakken, who manages a gas station in town, said she had gotten to know Volk a few years ago after they met through an auction app on Facebook. The two women became friends, and Bakken had gotten to know the children.
“She was a good mom, loved her kids, loved her family,” Bakken said, adding that Volk also helped in the community with different benefits. “It seemed like a normal, everyday family.”
Bakken said she didn’t know about Volk’s financial issues, or that a fundraising page had been started. Bakken said she saw the whole family last Saturday, when they came into the gas station where she worked, and she saw no signs of trouble.
“Everybody was happy-go-lucky,” Bakken said. “I’m still in complete and utter shock.”
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POLICE CONFIRM GRAND FORKS MOTHER KILLED CHILDREN, HERSELF IN HOME
By Andrew Haffner on May 7, 2018 at 11:52 p.m.
GRAND FORKS -- Police confirmed Monday what many had felt, and feared, to be true of a grim discovery last Thursday, May 3 -- that three children found dead in their home were killed by their mother, who then committed suicide.
That conclusion had been assumed the night before by Beth Richards, the mother of Astra Volk, 35, who flew from her home in Florida the day after she was told by authorities that her daughter and grandchildren -- Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14 -- were dead. Richards spoke at a Sunday night, May 6, vigil outside the rented home the family had lived in for about the last two months of their lives.
“This is the worst thing a mother can do, I agree with everyone on that,” Richards said.
She still loved her daughter and always would. But, as she stood in the growing dusk and the candlelight of the mourners, she was angry, both at Volk for what she’d done and with what she saw as a lack of resources available to help the mentally ill.
Well before her death, Volk had publicly discussed her struggles with mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder. She had posted a plea just a week before the deaths to the fundraising site GoFundme, seeking financial aid to cover living expenses while paying off medical expenses.
Richards said her daughter had attempted suicide in February, for what she believed was the first time. In the time since, she thought her daughter had been “feeling good,” on top of her symptoms and starting fresh in a newly-rented house.
Richards didn’t try to guess exactly what had happened in the hours before a school resource officer found the bodies of Volk and her children in that house, dead of gunshot wounds.
“We can’t walk into her mind, as she was then,” Richards said.
She said her daughter had always wanted what was best for her children. In a dark twist, Richards guessed that, in the state her daughter was in at the time of the killings, shooting the children must have felt like that.
“Things might have been spiraling out of control over the past few days, before it happened,” she said.
Volk was born in Pottstown, Penn., to Richards and her late husband, a Vietnam war veteran. According to Richards, who said she also has bipolar disorder, Volk had struggled with her own mental illness since adolescence.
Trained as a certified nursing assistant, Volk had managed her condition over the years with varied success. Richards is now waiting for an autopsy report to see if her daughter had been taking all of her medications at the time of her death.
As Volk lived with her issues, so did her four children. Her oldest son was not living with the family at the time of their deaths and is still alive. Richards didn’t say where he is now, but said he wants to be a nurse like his grandmothers, a goal they fully support.
His younger siblings were raised in large part by Volk’s husband, Heath Volk.
The surviving Volk stood vigil as the crowd dissipated, pausing for a long time by the front door of the home. He wasn’t ready to speak to a reporter about his family but showed a small jacket he held throughout, a child’s sweatshirt embroidered with Arianna Talmage’s initials.
He had met Astra Volk when Arianna was 6 months old, he said, and had raised the girl.
Richards described Arianna as the “princess” of the family, a little girl who loved to dance and wanted to be a cheerleader. Heath Volk had been the only father she’d ever known.
Both Arianna and Aiden, the middle of the three, were students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, located just blocks from their new home. Aiden loved animals -- especially chickens. Richards showed off pictures of her grandchildren to those at the vigil, laughing at an image of Aiden holding a chicken owned by a neighbor in Florida.
Tyler, a freshman at Central High School, had autism and a bright smile. In Astra Volk’s social media profiles, the teenager can be seen grinning with his siblings, an arm slung over their shoulders. All three children were close to mind Sunday night.
The vigil began in silence. Volk had been active in social media communities, and many of those who gathered with candles along the edge of the family lawn now covered in a makeshift memorial of pinwheels, stuffed animals and bouquets had first met her online.
A child’s bicycle, lying on its side in the grass, had been covered in a mound of these offerings.
Neighbors walked over during the evening to stand with the mourners. Some watched from their front stoops.
Richards spoke briefly at the start of the vigil, telling the group that she had no answers for them, though she wished she did.
The family members were found dead Thursday morning by a school resource officer dispatched on a welfare check when the children didn’t arrive at school in the morning. Police said the family members appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
Though investigators didn’t initially call the incident a murder-suicide, they announced early on that they’d found a handgun in the home, weren’t looking for any suspects and didn’t believe there was any ongoing threat to public safety.
A Monday, May 7, news release from Grand Forks Police made that implicit statement much more clear.
“Preliminary investigative results have determined that Astra Volk took the lives of her three children and then took her own life,” the release said. “All evidence gathered up to this point, as well as the preliminary autopsy findings, support this determination.”
Grand Forks Police Lt. Brett Johnson said that evidence includes physical findings in the family’s home. It also includes Volk’s digital communications, including her texts messages and social media presence, and interviews with those who knew the family. Local agencies have been assisted in the investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Even with an apparent conclusion, police said the investigation of the deaths “remains open and active” and encouraged the public to come forward with any available information.
“We’re still analyzing some of the electronic evidence that we picked up and we want to make sure we’ve exhausted all potential interviews with friends, family and witnesses,” Johnson said.
“We have a pretty good idea how it happened, just now we want to figure out why it happened.”
Johnson said the investigation will likely remain active until an autopsy of the bodies closes out, a process that takes about 6-8 weeks and includes a full toxicology report.
Anyone with information about this case can call (701) 787-8004 or contact police on the department website or Facebook page.
* * * * * * * *
GRAND FORKS POLICE OPEN HOMICIDE CASE AFTER WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOME
Andrew Haffner Forum News Service May 3, 2018
GRAND FORKS -- Police have opened a homicide case -- but aren’t currently seeking any suspects -- after a Grand Forks woman and her three children were found dead in their home Thursday morning.
The bodies of Astra Volk, 35, and her children Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14, were found in their home on the 1000 block of South 12th Street during a welfare check requested by Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where the two younger children were students.
An October newsletter from the school indicates Volk was a co-treasurer of the elementary school’s parent teacher organization.
Police say all four family members died of gunshot wounds. Authorities recovered a handgun in the house. In an evening press conference outside the family home, Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said he couldn’t answer definitively whether that same gun was used to kill the family, nor where in the house the bodies were found.
He didn’t answer when asked about other details of the scene.
“I think any time that you have a scene where children are dead, it’s a horrific scene,” Zimmel said. “The condition of the house and anything related to that really doesn’t matter. … It’s a great tragedy, and I think we’re all going to be affected by it.”
Zimmel also didn’t answer when asked if police believe Volk had killed her children and herself, saying the agency needed further investigation before assigning action or motive to anyone in the home. But he did tell reporters to consider what authorities have said -- they found a gun in the house and aren’t looking for any suspects right now.
What comes next, Zimmel said, is a “whole lot of interviewing, evaluating evidence.”
“We’re trying to determine not only what exactly happened but, to the best of our ability, why it happened, ensuring the safety and mental and emotional health of all who might be impacted by this,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Quiet neighborhood
As he spoke, the dark clouds and drizzling rain of night closed over a neighborhood that stunned neighbors had earlier described as “quiet.”
Passing motorists slowed to watch the house, some aiming smartphones at the scene for video, others pausing for a longer look or a word with bystanders. The Grand Forks Police community resource officer arrived to remove a caged pet from the house, the front of which had been covered by investigators with a dark privacy screen.
Investigators are still piecing together the timeline of events that led a school resource officer to discover the bodies of the family in their rented home just blocks from Lewis and Clark.
What’s already known is that school administrators asked the officer to conduct a welfare check on the home after the younger children didn’t arrive at school, a practice Zimmel said Grand Forks schools use on a “case by case basis.”
Once there, an officer peering through a window saw what looked to be a body. Police forced entry to the home and discovered the four deceased. Authorities still don’t know when the family was killed nor how long their bodies were in the home before being found.
Police closed down a stretch of roadway to accommodate a daylong investigation with assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the home where the family had lived for only about two months.
Family in need
A troubled picture emerged of the Volk household. Just over a week ago, Volk had posted a plea for monetary assistance to fundraising site GoFundMe, seeking help in a post titled “Living expenses due to medical bills.”
In the post, Volk said she and her two sons “suffer from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression, autism” and that all had been “hospitalized for this.”
“I work full time but my wages have recently been garnished for medical bills,” she wrote. “I’m looking for help with 1 month’s bills to help get on our feet and look for a second job. I am trying to stay positive so I do not end up back in the hospital.”
Volk, who said on social media that she worked at Cirrus Aircraft, said the family was getting help from food pantries.
Court records show Volk had been in civil court three times in the past year for collections totaling to $3,700. Neighbors believed she was living alone with the children and was separated from her husband and their father.
Those same neighbors stood throughout the day on porches and sidewalks, talking among themselves or to the detectives moving door-to-door for information.
A small, pink bicycle lay on its side on the front lawn of the home. Though all the visible windows were shut fast, the garage door hung half-opened, slightly crooked. The door to the mailbox was open too, revealing at least a day’s worth of mail.
Many of those who lived nearby didn’t know Volk or her children well. Before police announced the case as a homicide, speculation had swirled as to how the family died in the home, which longtime residents say had recently been overhauled by its owners since going largely uninhabited since the flood of 1997.
Paula Stevens was at the edge of the cordon at midday, standing with her arms folded, watching investigators at their work. She lives a few houses away and has been in the neighborhood for years.
“I hadn’t met them yet, and I had only barely seen them,” Stevens said.
Still, even with little personal connection, the depth of the tragedy was easy to feel.
“It makes your stomach go like ‘Woah,’ ” she said, gesturing with a clenching hand. “I can’t even grasp what might have happened here.”
The investigation of that is still ongoing.
Police will remain at the home until satisfied they’ve found everything they need to answer the questions that remain, Zimmel said.
The department asks anyone with information to contact police at (701) 787-8000.
* * * * * * * *
MOM AND HER THREE KIDS KILLED BY GUNSHOTS IN GRAND FORKS
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Valley News Live) We now know the names of the four people found dead in a home near an elementary school this morning in Grand Forks.
Astra Volk is the mom. She's the parent of the children who were also found dead in the home along the 1000 block of south 12th street near Lewis and Clark elementary school.
Officers found the bodies while performing a welfare check on the kids, which was requested by the school. The children who were found deceased are: 6 year old Arianna Talmage, 10 year-old Aidan Talmage, and 14 year-old Tyler Talmage.
Police tell Valley News Live early indications are that all four family members died from gunshots. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
We've also uncovered a Go Fund Me page that Astra Volk set up eight days ago. She wrote about her and the boys suffering from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression and autism. Volk wrote that she was looking for help with paying medical bills.
ASTRA VOLK
October 14, 1982 ~ May 3, 2018
Astra Volk of Grand Forks, North Dakota
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Astra Volk
October 14, 1982 - May 03, 2018
Astra Felicia Nicole Volk, 35, of Grand Forks, ND died unexpectedly in her home on Thursday, May 3, 2018.
Astra was born on October 14, 1982 in Pottstown, PA the daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Knaup) Wambold. She attended Port Charlotte High School, in Port Charlotte, FL and went on to earn her Emergency Medical Technician Certification.
Astra married Brian Talmage in 2003. Over the next eight years, the couple welcomed four children into their home, Brendan, Tyler, Aidan and Arianna.
In 2015, Astra married Heath Volk in Grand Forks, ND. She accepted three new stepdaughters into her heart.
Astra was a generous, caring individual who loved to help out those in need in any way she could. She was passionate about making sure she always tried to improve everyone’s situation.
Astra is survived by her son, Brendan Talmage, Thief River Falls, MN;
Her mother, Elizabeth Richards, Ft. Ogden FL;
Her husband, Heath Volk, Grand Forks, ND and her 3 stepdaughters, Promise Volk, Serena Volk and Nonnah Volk, all of Grand Forks, ND.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be directed to https://www.gofundme.com/astra-and-children or the mental health facility of choice.
Celebration of Life: 1:00 p.m. Saturday, May 12, 2018 in Valley Christian Church, 3920 Cherry Street, Grand Forks, ND, with Pastor Chris Dawes officiating.
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
All are welcome to attend and celebrate Astra’s life.
SERVICES
Celebration of Life
Saturday, May 12, 2018
1:00 PM
Valley Christian Church
3920 Cherry Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201
Family Greeting: One hour prior to the service in the church on Saturday.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
GUEST BOOK
Elizabeth A.McWilliams of Arvilla,ND ~ May 12, 2018
*Families of ASTRA, deepest sympathy to you.Our Children Have left this world way to soon.We pray they are at peace in another world.Many have shed tears over your loss.not only your daughter,also lovely grandchildren.So sorry.sending Hugs.May God’s love Comfort you!
Katie ~ May 11, 2018
*Condolences to everyone affected. Astra was a good, kind & loving person and that's how I will choose to forever remember her. Astra was one of my first "mom" friends in this area. I will remember Astra for the fun & loving individual that she was. My favorite memory...Astra trying to get Tyler out the door for preschool. It never failed...Tyler always needed to use the bathroom right before the bus came. We had a good laugh over it because the school had made reference to Tyler not wearing shoes upon arrival one day. Astra was like, "they're lucky the only thing missing was his shoes!" I enjoyed every conversation, every chance we had to treat ourselves to an iced coffee treat and our window shopping excursions. We both provided each other with a much needed break from mom & married life!
Lois ~ May 11, 2018
*So sorry for your loss of Astra and her children. Mental illness is something I understand. Thinking of you.
Dan and Eadie Weigle of Fort Ogden, Florida ~ May 11, 2018
*May the good Lord bless you and keep you. May he wrap his loving arms around you and give you peace. Amen
Barb Layton ~ May 11, 2018
*I am so sorry for your loss. In the bible we find hope and comfort. Ps. 34:18 "God is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit."
Kelly Matthews of Orwigsburg PA ~ May 10, 2018
*Oh Astra, I am soo sorry the system failed you and your children! I am so sorry you had to feel so much pain. I can only imagine how you must have felt to do what you did! I am hurt and angry, yet understand what depression feels like. You and your children were so very important! I wish you could have felt and seen how much, without the veil of mental illness clouding your mind. I will not stop fighting for those who need a light in the darkness. I am just sorry I was too late for you, and Precious Tyler, and Precious Aiden, and Precious Arianna. I can only hope what my Christian faith teaches us is true. And that is that you are no longer hurting. But forgiven and been made new, in a place of unfathomable beauty, with the Lord and Savior. We will continue to mourn the loss of your presence here on earth. And of your amazing children. Be at peace. Kelly
Aunt karen of New holland ~ May 10, 2018
My darling niece and god daughter ! I watched you grow as you struggled threw life ! But you did it for 35 years I will never understand why u gave up ! I can still see u on my sofa with little Adriana making her laugh! Going and getting a gift box for all the kids at the candy store and cup cakes ! It cost u more to send it then u paid for it and you made sure you got them every thing they liked ! I am sorry I will never see u again on this earth but I know you gave your life to Jesus and I know u are there waiting for us !! Love u my sweet Astra
Susan Hoffarth of 4303 Cottonwood St ~ May 10, 2018
*So sorry for your loss. You have been in my thoughts everyday. God be with you always!
Elizabeth Richards ~ May 10, 2018
*My sweet sweet daughter, I write this as I cry. So many are hurt by what you did. So many unanswered questions. Know that I have always loved you. Your named means STAR. I know you are no longer in pain. I know how long you have suffered. I don’t know why you were born with it. But know one thing twinkle bell. I would have given my life for you to have been free from it. I know you loved your babies, I knew everything about you. You had my heart my kindness and my quirky ness. I so glad you took my gift and came to Florida. I did think you and the kids were coming back home in a few months to live . I now longer have to worry about you and the children for now I know the Lord has you and and them you are safe and whole. Give your dad a big hug and kiss for me too. You will be forever missed Your loving Mom
Willam and Phyllis Knaup of Ft. Ogden Florida ~ May 10, 2018
*Astra, Your Nan and Pop will miss you and the phone calls we had with you. We will miss the children and the times we got to spend with you. We only wish we could have done more to heal your hurt. We will miss you always and you will continually be in our thoughts and prayers. Till we meet again on the Heavenly Shores. Wait patiently our Dear Astra, Tyler, Arianna and Aiden. Love, Nan and Pop Knaup
Shannon Gomez of Florissant, Colorado ~ May 10, 2018
*Heather Ray and I are thinking of you and the girls. We love you
Josephine A Wieder of Allentown ~ May 09, 2018
*My Dear Astra, No one will ever know the pain that you carried with you all these years. I'm sorry that we didn't stay in touch as we should have. I only wish that there would have been a better communication between us. The love we feel for you will never die. What you did was a tragedy that no one can explain. We are all grieving for what we have lost, you and your beautiful children. Your mother will not have you to scold or hold or talk to but she will remember the sweet little girl that you once were. Your mental illness took you all from us so I hope that this tragedy will bring much needed awareness to your condition and all those who suffer from it. We're angry but in time it will ease. No one can condemn unless they walk in your shoes. No one knows unless it has happened to them. I only hope that your soul is at peace. I hope you daddy was there to greet you and the children. We can only hope in the Risen Christ that he has spared you anymore agony. Praying for you and the children and missing you all. Much Love, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Bill, Jeff and Cody too.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
GRAND FORKS MOM FOUND DEAD WITH 3 KIDS HAD FINANCIAL TROUBLES
May 4, 2018 at 8:42 pm
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A single mother who was found dead of gunshot wounds along with her three children had recently moved into a rental property in North Dakota and had been struggling to pay off medical bills.
Astra Volk, 35, and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead Thursday at their home in Grand Forks. Police went to the house after officials from Aiden and Arianna’s school requested a welfare check.
Police have not officially classified the killings as murder-suicide or explained what happened, citing the ongoing investigation, but they said all four died of gunshot wounds and a handgun was found in the house with the bodies.
They said they are not looking for any suspects.
Grand Forks police Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday: “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered anything to indicate that anybody other than the four inside the residence were involved.”
Johnson said authorities believe the shootings happened sometime during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.
When asked who fired the shots, or whether a note or explanation was left behind, he said he could not comment.
Court records show Volk divorced the children’s father in 2013 and was granted primary residential responsibility for four children — the three who died, in addition to another child who was born in 2001 and would be 16 or 17. It was not immediately clear if the older child was the biological child of Volk, her husband or both.
Neither Volk nor her ex-husband was ordered to pay spousal support, according to divorce records. Attempts to reach Volk’s ex-husband and family members were unsuccessful Friday.
But there were signs that Volk was struggling with finances. Grand Forks County court documents show a collection agency went to court to get money from Volk for unpaid medical bills. During the last six months of 2017, she was ordered to pay about $3,750.
A woman by the same name set up a GoFundMe account April 25 seeking money to help pay off medical bills she said were brought about in part for treatment for a mental illness. The woman said she was working full-time but that her wages had been garnished.
The fundraising account had been deleted Friday.
Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where Volk lived, said Thursday that the family had moved into the neighborhood just a couple of months earlier.
“Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness,” she said.
Stevens said the house “sat empty forever” until it was recently renovated. She said the woman was living there as a renter, but that she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours and the long winter kept the kids indoors.
Kelley Bakken, who manages a gas station in town, said she had gotten to know Volk a few years ago after they met through an auction app on Facebook. The two women became friends, and Bakken had gotten to know the children.
“She was a good mom, loved her kids, loved her family,” Bakken said, adding that Volk also helped in the community with different benefits. “It seemed like a normal, everyday family.”
Bakken said she didn’t know about Volk’s financial issues, or that a fundraising page had been started. Bakken said she saw the whole family last Saturday, when they came into the gas station where she worked, and she saw no signs of trouble.
“Everybody was happy-go-lucky,” Bakken said. “I’m still in complete and utter shock.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
POLICE CONFIRM GRAND FORKS MOTHER KILLED CHILDREN, HERSELF IN HOME
By Andrew Haffner on May 7, 2018 at 11:52 p.m.
GRAND FORKS -- Police confirmed Monday what many had felt, and feared, to be true of a grim discovery last Thursday, May 3 -- that three children found dead in their home were killed by their mother, who then committed suicide.
That conclusion had been assumed the night before by Beth Richards, the mother of Astra Volk, 35, who flew from her home in Florida the day after she was told by authorities that her daughter and grandchildren -- Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14 -- were dead. Richards spoke at a Sunday night, May 6, vigil outside the rented home the family had lived in for about the last two months of their lives.
“This is the worst thing a mother can do, I agree with everyone on that,” Richards said.
She still loved her daughter and always would. But, as she stood in the growing dusk and the candlelight of the mourners, she was angry, both at Volk for what she’d done and with what she saw as a lack of resources available to help the mentally ill.
Well before her death, Volk had publicly discussed her struggles with mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder. She had posted a plea just a week before the deaths to the fundraising site GoFundme, seeking financial aid to cover living expenses while paying off medical expenses.
Richards said her daughter had attempted suicide in February, for what she believed was the first time. In the time since, she thought her daughter had been “feeling good,” on top of her symptoms and starting fresh in a newly-rented house.
Richards didn’t try to guess exactly what had happened in the hours before a school resource officer found the bodies of Volk and her children in that house, dead of gunshot wounds.
“We can’t walk into her mind, as she was then,” Richards said.
She said her daughter had always wanted what was best for her children. In a dark twist, Richards guessed that, in the state her daughter was in at the time of the killings, shooting the children must have felt like that.
“Things might have been spiraling out of control over the past few days, before it happened,” she said.
Volk was born in Pottstown, Penn., to Richards and her late husband, a Vietnam war veteran. According to Richards, who said she also has bipolar disorder, Volk had struggled with her own mental illness since adolescence.
Trained as a certified nursing assistant, Volk had managed her condition over the years with varied success. Richards is now waiting for an autopsy report to see if her daughter had been taking all of her medications at the time of her death.
As Volk lived with her issues, so did her four children. Her oldest son was not living with the family at the time of their deaths and is still alive. Richards didn’t say where he is now, but said he wants to be a nurse like his grandmothers, a goal they fully support.
His younger siblings were raised in large part by Volk’s husband, Heath Volk.
The surviving Volk stood vigil as the crowd dissipated, pausing for a long time by the front door of the home. He wasn’t ready to speak to a reporter about his family but showed a small jacket he held throughout, a child’s sweatshirt embroidered with Arianna Talmage’s initials.
He had met Astra Volk when Arianna was 6 months old, he said, and had raised the girl.
Richards described Arianna as the “princess” of the family, a little girl who loved to dance and wanted to be a cheerleader. Heath Volk had been the only father she’d ever known.
Both Arianna and Aiden, the middle of the three, were students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, located just blocks from their new home. Aiden loved animals -- especially chickens. Richards showed off pictures of her grandchildren to those at the vigil, laughing at an image of Aiden holding a chicken owned by a neighbor in Florida.
Tyler, a freshman at Central High School, had autism and a bright smile. In Astra Volk’s social media profiles, the teenager can be seen grinning with his siblings, an arm slung over their shoulders. All three children were close to mind Sunday night.
The vigil began in silence. Volk had been active in social media communities, and many of those who gathered with candles along the edge of the family lawn now covered in a makeshift memorial of pinwheels, stuffed animals and bouquets had first met her online.
A child’s bicycle, lying on its side in the grass, had been covered in a mound of these offerings.
Neighbors walked over during the evening to stand with the mourners. Some watched from their front stoops.
Richards spoke briefly at the start of the vigil, telling the group that she had no answers for them, though she wished she did.
The family members were found dead Thursday morning by a school resource officer dispatched on a welfare check when the children didn’t arrive at school in the morning. Police said the family members appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
Though investigators didn’t initially call the incident a murder-suicide, they announced early on that they’d found a handgun in the home, weren’t looking for any suspects and didn’t believe there was any ongoing threat to public safety.
A Monday, May 7, news release from Grand Forks Police made that implicit statement much more clear.
“Preliminary investigative results have determined that Astra Volk took the lives of her three children and then took her own life,” the release said. “All evidence gathered up to this point, as well as the preliminary autopsy findings, support this determination.”
Grand Forks Police Lt. Brett Johnson said that evidence includes physical findings in the family’s home. It also includes Volk’s digital communications, including her texts messages and social media presence, and interviews with those who knew the family. Local agencies have been assisted in the investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Even with an apparent conclusion, police said the investigation of the deaths “remains open and active” and encouraged the public to come forward with any available information.
“We’re still analyzing some of the electronic evidence that we picked up and we want to make sure we’ve exhausted all potential interviews with friends, family and witnesses,” Johnson said.
“We have a pretty good idea how it happened, just now we want to figure out why it happened.”
Johnson said the investigation will likely remain active until an autopsy of the bodies closes out, a process that takes about 6-8 weeks and includes a full toxicology report.
Anyone with information about this case can call (701) 787-8004 or contact police on the department website or Facebook page.
* * * * * * * *
GRAND FORKS POLICE OPEN HOMICIDE CASE AFTER WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOME
Andrew Haffner Forum News Service May 3, 2018
GRAND FORKS -- Police have opened a homicide case -- but aren’t currently seeking any suspects -- after a Grand Forks woman and her three children were found dead in their home Thursday morning.
The bodies of Astra Volk, 35, and her children Arianna Talmage, 6, Aidan Talmage, 10, and Tyler Talmage, 14, were found in their home on the 1000 block of South 12th Street during a welfare check requested by Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where the two younger children were students.
An October newsletter from the school indicates Volk was a co-treasurer of the elementary school’s parent teacher organization.
Police say all four family members died of gunshot wounds. Authorities recovered a handgun in the house. In an evening press conference outside the family home, Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said he couldn’t answer definitively whether that same gun was used to kill the family, nor where in the house the bodies were found.
He didn’t answer when asked about other details of the scene.
“I think any time that you have a scene where children are dead, it’s a horrific scene,” Zimmel said. “The condition of the house and anything related to that really doesn’t matter. … It’s a great tragedy, and I think we’re all going to be affected by it.”
Zimmel also didn’t answer when asked if police believe Volk had killed her children and herself, saying the agency needed further investigation before assigning action or motive to anyone in the home. But he did tell reporters to consider what authorities have said -- they found a gun in the house and aren’t looking for any suspects right now.
What comes next, Zimmel said, is a “whole lot of interviewing, evaluating evidence.”
“We’re trying to determine not only what exactly happened but, to the best of our ability, why it happened, ensuring the safety and mental and emotional health of all who might be impacted by this,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Quiet neighborhood
As he spoke, the dark clouds and drizzling rain of night closed over a neighborhood that stunned neighbors had earlier described as “quiet.”
Passing motorists slowed to watch the house, some aiming smartphones at the scene for video, others pausing for a longer look or a word with bystanders. The Grand Forks Police community resource officer arrived to remove a caged pet from the house, the front of which had been covered by investigators with a dark privacy screen.
Investigators are still piecing together the timeline of events that led a school resource officer to discover the bodies of the family in their rented home just blocks from Lewis and Clark.
What’s already known is that school administrators asked the officer to conduct a welfare check on the home after the younger children didn’t arrive at school, a practice Zimmel said Grand Forks schools use on a “case by case basis.”
Once there, an officer peering through a window saw what looked to be a body. Police forced entry to the home and discovered the four deceased. Authorities still don’t know when the family was killed nor how long their bodies were in the home before being found.
Police closed down a stretch of roadway to accommodate a daylong investigation with assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the home where the family had lived for only about two months.
Family in need
A troubled picture emerged of the Volk household. Just over a week ago, Volk had posted a plea for monetary assistance to fundraising site GoFundMe, seeking help in a post titled “Living expenses due to medical bills.”
In the post, Volk said she and her two sons “suffer from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression, autism” and that all had been “hospitalized for this.”
“I work full time but my wages have recently been garnished for medical bills,” she wrote. “I’m looking for help with 1 month’s bills to help get on our feet and look for a second job. I am trying to stay positive so I do not end up back in the hospital.”
Volk, who said on social media that she worked at Cirrus Aircraft, said the family was getting help from food pantries.
Court records show Volk had been in civil court three times in the past year for collections totaling to $3,700. Neighbors believed she was living alone with the children and was separated from her husband and their father.
Those same neighbors stood throughout the day on porches and sidewalks, talking among themselves or to the detectives moving door-to-door for information.
A small, pink bicycle lay on its side on the front lawn of the home. Though all the visible windows were shut fast, the garage door hung half-opened, slightly crooked. The door to the mailbox was open too, revealing at least a day’s worth of mail.
Many of those who lived nearby didn’t know Volk or her children well. Before police announced the case as a homicide, speculation had swirled as to how the family died in the home, which longtime residents say had recently been overhauled by its owners since going largely uninhabited since the flood of 1997.
Paula Stevens was at the edge of the cordon at midday, standing with her arms folded, watching investigators at their work. She lives a few houses away and has been in the neighborhood for years.
“I hadn’t met them yet, and I had only barely seen them,” Stevens said.
Still, even with little personal connection, the depth of the tragedy was easy to feel.
“It makes your stomach go like ‘Woah,’ ” she said, gesturing with a clenching hand. “I can’t even grasp what might have happened here.”
The investigation of that is still ongoing.
Police will remain at the home until satisfied they’ve found everything they need to answer the questions that remain, Zimmel said.
The department asks anyone with information to contact police at (701) 787-8000.
* * * * * * * *
MOM AND HER THREE KIDS KILLED BY GUNSHOTS IN GRAND FORKS
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Valley News Live) We now know the names of the four people found dead in a home near an elementary school this morning in Grand Forks.
Astra Volk is the mom. She's the parent of the children who were also found dead in the home along the 1000 block of south 12th street near Lewis and Clark elementary school.
Officers found the bodies while performing a welfare check on the kids, which was requested by the school. The children who were found deceased are: 6 year old Arianna Talmage, 10 year-old Aidan Talmage, and 14 year-old Tyler Talmage.
Police tell Valley News Live early indications are that all four family members died from gunshots. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
We've also uncovered a Go Fund Me page that Astra Volk set up eight days ago. She wrote about her and the boys suffering from mental illness, bi-polar, manic depression and autism. Volk wrote that she was looking for help with paying medical bills.
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