A trust fund has been established to help three small children whose parents died in an apparent double murder-suicide in Oakdale last month.

The children, ages 3, 6 and 8, are being cared for by their maternal grandfather, and donations are being sought to pay for winter clothing and to cover housing, grocery and other living expenses, according to Sari Giliuson, social worker at Skyview Community School in Oakdale.

Donations can be sent to: Almaraz Family Donation Fund, Wells Fargo Bank, 670 McKnight Road N., St. Paul, Minn., 55119.

Checks are to be made out to The Almaraz Family Donation Fund.

About 4 p.m. on Sept. 15, the couple's 6-year-old daughter returned home from school to find the bodies of her 28-year-old mother, 32-year-old father and the family's 43-year-old babysitter. Each had died of a single gunshot to the head. Later, authorities determined the father committed suicide, but they had yet to identify him as the lone shooter.

The babysitter was married and had three adult children, her niece said last month.

Anyone with questions about the trust fund or about any other means of supporting the family can call Giliuson at 651-702-8105 or write her at sgiliuson@isd622.org

Checks also are being accepted at the school, 1100 Heron Av. N., for deposit into the fund.

ANTHONY LONETREE