Man suspected of murdering his family before killing himself.

Five members of the same family were found dead in an apartment in Sassuolo, northern Italy, in what investigators believe to be a murder-suicide case.

Police are working on the theory that a 38-year-old man of Tunisian origin used a knife to murder his Italian partner, their two sons aged five and two, and his 64-year-old mother-in-law, before taking his own life.

An 11-year-old daughter that the woman had from a previous relationship escaped the massacre as she was at school.

The alarm was raised when nobody came to collect the girl and the school's phone calls to her parents went unanswered.

The killings are belived to have occurred between 15.00 and 16.00 on Wednesday afternoon in a residential area of the town, which is part of the Modena province in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The couple had separated about a month ago, according to local media, and the woman, 43, had taken her three children to live with her mother in whose house the killings took place.

News agency ANSA reports that there is an audio recording of the man, who was employed in a local supermarket, making a death threat against his former partner in recent weeks.

The dynamics of the incident are still being examined by investigators.

Photo Tgcom24