Autopsy: 2 children smothered; father’s charges upgraded to murder

PAPILLION, Neb. (WOWT) - The children of a Bellevue man found dead in their father’s home in May were smothered, the Sarpy County Attorney’s Office told WOWT on Tuesday.

Theodore, 3, and Emily Price, 5, were found dead inside the home of Adam Price after a welfare check May 16. The children’s parents had been in the middle of a divorce, and it was Price’s week to have the children.

Their mother, who lives in Illinois, had asked police to check on them.

Price, 35, was arrested in Pacifica, Calif., hours later.

Price was initially charged with two counts of felony child abuse resulting in death, but the state has filed a motion to upgrade the charges to two counts of first-degree murder, according to Bonnie Moore, chief deputy Sarpy County attorney.

Price has been in Sarpy County Jail since May 27, when he was transferred there from California. His bond was set at $2.5 million.

He is scheduled to appear before a judge on Oct. 12.

If convicted, Price faces a life sentence, the release states.