Waylon, Karson and Hudson were brothers, and Bryson was their cousin, the family’s pastor, Steve Bezner, said at a news conference on Friday.
“What happened to the Collins family is just unspeakable – those kids were bright, shining stars,” said Crain, the family friend.
Officials leading that search had looked in the Collins family ranch multiple times while Lopez was at large, Crain said.
Crain isn’t sure his friend Mark Collins received that information before bringing his grandchildren to the ranch on Thursday morning.
When Mark Collins didn’t check in with another family member later on Thursday, that relative called police and asked them to check on the ranch.
Police in Jourdanton, a Texas community about 220 miles south-west of Centerville, saw Lopez driving the truck and pursued him.
Armed with an AR-15 rifle and a pistol that were apparently stolen from the Collins ranch, Lopez subsequently died in a shootout with police. »