Police: Six people found shot dead in rural Washington  

(CNN) -- Authorities have ruled out murder-suicide in the deaths of six people whose bodies were found Wednesday in a rural area outside Seattle.

The victims all appeared to have have shot, and may have been dead since Christmas Eve, said King County Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart.

Deputies have not made any arrests. But nearby residents did not have to worry about "someone running loose," said another sergeant, Jim Laing.

The six people were found dead in and around a house on a residential property in Carnation, about 20 miles east of Seattle, Urquhart said.

The house sits among a cluster of residences on the edge of woods.

A colleague of one of the victims came by to check on the family Wednesday morning after the victim didn't show up for work, Laing said.

The colleague called deputies, who initially found the bodies of two adults and a child inside a house on the property.

In all, deputies found a man and a woman in their 50s, another man and woman in their 30s, and two children: a 6-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, Urquhart said.

Authorities have not yet been able to determine how the victims were related and who lived at the house.

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