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A day after the bodies of a Salt Lake City couple were found inside their Federal Heights home, friends and family are trying to comprehend what led a 35-year-old son to shoot his parents.

Vernee Ronald Halliday, 73; his wife, Linda Covey Halliday, 69; and their son, Vernee Stuart Halliday, were found dead in their basement Friday from gunshot wounds. An out-of-state relative called police about noon Friday, asking for a welfare check after the relative had not heard from the family in about a week.

Salt Lake City police responded and discovered the family, determining that Stuart Halliday shot his parents in the house, in the 1400 East block of Penrose Drive (152 North).

Salt Lake City police Lt. Melody Grady said she was unaware of any note left by the son that would explain his actions and detectives are continuing to search for a motive.

So are family members, who say they saw no signs of trouble among the Hallidays.

Anne Halliday, Ronald and Linda Halliday's niece, said the family was very close and loving. Stuart Halliday had been in school in California studying languages for about a year, but had more recently been home with his parents.

Stuart Halliday was somewhat quiet, she said, but nice.

"It's not something anyone could have seen coming. It was completely out of the blue," Anne Halliday said."I would have never suspected anything like that."

The Hallidays' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bishop, Gregory Brinton, called the family "very good people." Brinton's son is the same age as Stuart Halliday, and the two were friends.

"Well, it's hard to believe," he said about Stuart Halliday's apparent actions. "Surely he wasn't well if this is what happened."

Ronald Halliday was active in Boy Scouts. He was a den leader when his sons were young, and continued with the organization after they grew up, Brinton said.

Linda and Ronald Halliday were private people and loved to take walks with their spaniel through the neighborhood, their niece said. The couple also enjoyed gardening.

Ronald Halliday was a retired IBM computer programmer. Linda Halliday was a stockbroker early in her life, but had mostly been a homemaker, Bruce Halliday, Ronald's brother, said Friday. The couple met while attending the University of Utah, he said.

The couple's only other child, Charles Patrick Halliday, died in 2004.