ORANGE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A mother and father were found shot to death inside their home in Columbia County.
Police say their shooter is the couple's 18-year-old adopted son, who called police afterward.
Shock and grief rocked a rural community near Millville after a husband and wife were found shot to death in their home.
The person charged with their murders, the couple's adoptive son, 18-year-old Carl Kressler.
Troopers were sent to the home on Hartman Hollow Road around 10 p.m. Thursday.
Court papers say Carl called 911 and told dispatchers that his parents were “gone."
Inside the home, troopers found the bodies of Flint and Sharon Kressler.
Brothers Donny and Randy Zimmerman live down the road from the Kressler's.
They have ties to the family through marriage.
“It's shocking. It's close to home and it's heartbreaking,” said Donny.
“I’ve known them all my life,” said Randy. “Good family, good family. I didn't know Carl well, just [see him] when's he's going by, that's it.”
“They were very good parents, that I`m aware of,” said Donny.
Police say Carl finally admitted to shooting his parents because, in part, they made disparaging remarks about their decision to adopt him.
In court papers filed at the magistrate's office in Millville, Carl told investigators he tried to make it look like his parents were shot and killed during a burglary.
Police say Carl had disabled the security system and hid some of his mother’s jewelry.
After the shooting, police say carl left to toss the gun off a bridge into a river then returned home and made that call to police.
“It's just a terrible thing, just terrible,” said Randy. “Terrible, it's terrible. I don't know it's unheard of for this area.”
Carl Kressler was denied bail and is locked up at the Columbia County prison.
His next court date is February 11.