Who are the 4 people found dead in Rancho Cordova murder-suicide? What we know
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- Four people, including two children, were found dead inside a Rancho Cordova home.
- Authorities have not released the names of those found dead.
- Public records provided some details about the people living in that home.
As sheriff’s investigators continued to piece together a grisly murder-suicide shooting that left four people — including two children — dead Tuesday inside a Rancho Cordova home, a clearer picture began to emerge of the family who lived there.
Public records identify David Edward Vallerga Jr., 58, and Lindsey Peralta Vallerga, 49, as the owners of the home in the 5400 block of Mill Water Circle, where deputies found the four dead, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Public records and neighbors indicated the couple had two children, including a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.
Authorities have not confirmed the victims’ identities or their relationship to one another, though detectives believe the shooting was a murder-suicide, sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Ed Igoe said. The coroner was still working to identify each of the individuals involved and notify relatives, and that detectives continued to investigate what led to the gunfire, he said.
But public records, details from neighbors, social media posts and a story published a few years ago in The Sacramento Bee provide some indication about the married couple who owned and lived in the two-story home in the 5400 block of Mill Water Circle. They purchased the home in 2011, and real estate records showed the couple had refinanced several times before using the home as equity for a revolving line of credit in 2023.
Together, they operated a tutoring service in the capital region and spoke to The Bee four years ago about the city growing from a bedroom community to a destination.
“For a long time, Elk Grove has been a bedroom community, but this is what helps change that,” David Vallerga said in November 2021 while the couple and their two children attended the grand opening of The Preserve city park. “All these things change Elk Grove from a place where you sleep to a place where you live.”
Business records show the couple operated two tutoring franchise businesses, one in Elk Grove and the other in El Dorado Hills, called Grade Power Learning. Along with math, science, English and SAT and ACT tutoring, the business offers support for students with ADHD. Grade Power has 21 other locations throughout the country owned and operated by other franchisees.
On her Facebook page, Lindsey Vallerga listed herself as the owner of Grade Power Learning in Elk Grove, where she also worked business development and community outreach. Last Friday, she updated her Facebook cover photo with a comic book-like rendering of a photo of her business.
David Vallerga, on his Facebook page, listed himself as the center director for Grade Power Learning in Elk Grove.
“Kids don’t want to, but damnit Lindsey and I are going to watch Rouldoph the Red Nose Reindeer on broadcast television, with commercials. And, we’re going to like it...!,” he jokingly shared in a Dec. 5 Facebook post.
Investigators believe Vallerga had killed his family before turning the gun on himself. Audio dispatches reviewed by The Bee indicated that a man identifying himself as the shooter made a 911 call. Dispatchers relayed to deputies that the caller said, “I’m the shooter. I’m setting up booby traps and turning off the cellphone.” Later radio calls indicated the subject was a man named David.
While Igoe declined to name the subject, citing coroner’s policy, he said the man who lived at the home “did have several firearms registered in his name, as well as prior military service and possible military equipment.”
The Sheriff’s Office said more details would be released in the coming days as detectives worked to understand what happened after the 911 call, which came as neighbors reported hearing gunshots in the quiet neighborhood at the end of Kiefer Boulevard and Rancho Cordova Parkway.
A young woman, who declined to provide her name, answered the phone Tuesday evening at Grade Power’s Elk Grove location, sounding distraught. She said she was the location’s education coordinator and, when asked if she or anyone there wished to speak about the shooting or on behalf of the family, said there was nobody else there and that she did not feel comfortable commenting.
A Bee reporter also called the El Dorado Hills Grade Power Learning location, but no one answered. A voicemail greeting from someone named David asked callers to leave a message.
Alicia Perry, who lives in Kavala Ranch not far from the Mill Water Circle home, remembered meeting the husband from the family who lived there.
“He came and talked to us,” Perry said. “He seemed really nice. He said, ‘Ours will be the house that looks like crap all the time.’ But he said, ‘I just want to let you know that we’re your neighbors.’”
Perry said she never met the man again after that day, but that she saw two children play outside the home once or twice along the cul-de-sac. They drew with chalk on the sidewalk, though Perry said this stopped about three years ago.
Suzanne Hanrahan, who lives about two blocks from the family’s home, said while she walked three dogs around dusk Tuesday that she knew the family.
“I didn’t know the father hardly at all,” Hanrahan said. “I’d see him walking this German shepherd sometimes. But the kids play on that court and so when I walk the dogs, the kids from that court would always run over and pet the dogs.”
She said the mother and daughter sometimes brought over eggs from chickens they kept at the home, free of charge, six at a time in a small container. Hanrahan described the boy as “very smart.”
“He’d talk about the constellations and the stars,” Hanrahan said. “He just seemed to have a wealth of knowledge for the child his age.”
Hanrahan, who said she had the impression the children were homeschooled, had never heard or seen signs of trouble in the home on Mill Water.
“I just think it’s a tragedy,” Hanrahan said. “The kids are nice. The mother was nice.”
The Bee’s Graham Womack contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
