3 found dead in downstate house

COLUMBIA -- Authorities in southwestern Illinois say three people have been found dead in a home in Columbia.

Investigators are withholding additional details, including the names of the victims discovered Tuesday in a two-story home.

Columbia police have turned the case over to the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

Neighbors say the occupants of the house had been receiving threatening letters, and that their mailbox had been tampered with in the past week or so.

Columbia is just southeast of St. Louis, across the Mississippi River.