Cooke County murder suspect found dead day after car fire that killed his two children

MUENSTER, Texas - A man suspected of murdering his own children was found dead Monday in Cooke County.

Investigators had pinned 37-year-old Mandeep Singh of Fort Worth as a capital murder suspect before finding him dead.

His two children – 3-year-old Mehar Kaur Birring and 4-year-old Jijit Singh Birring – were found dead in the back seat of a burning car Sunday on a rural road near the town of Muenster. That’s in Cooke County close to Oklahoma.

The sheriff said the fire appeared to be intentionally set.

Investigators started their search for Singh and a “be on the lookout” alert was issued. But 24 hours later, his body was found in a wooded area about a mile away from the original crime scene.

A neighbor said she is heartbroken over the tragedy.

“It just leaves me stunned that anyone would do that to their own kid, to their own child, said Raquel Gonzalez, a neighbor.

The sheriff's office said it appears that Singh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They are treating the case as a murder-suicide but said the Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine their exact causes of death.

There's no word yet on what may have caused Singh to kill his children.

Court records show he was charged with family violence three years ago. He received two years deferred adjudication for the incident.