The authorities speculate that the three were taken to tend wounded rebels.
The authorities would not speculate on a motive, though they said family court cases could be volatile.
The killings stopped in 1984, and the authorities speculated that the killer might have died or moved.
When questioned by the media, medical authorities initially speculated that a "coffin birth" might have occurred.
The authorities speculated that the man had blown himself up by accident before reaching an intended target.
The authorities would not speculate about the motive for the string of shootings.
He said additional laboratory analysis would be needed before the authorities could speculate on the circumstances of his death.
In any case, authorities were speculating that he had been the man behind the attack on the Iranian oil rig.
The authorities speculated that the debris had come from sewage flushed by the rain.
The authorities had speculated that his killings might have begun with an 8-year-old girl in Tacoma, when he was 14.