PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — An out-of-breath caller who found two of the eight slain members of an Ohio family told a 911 dispatcher in a quavering voice that “there’s blood all over the house”.

“I think my brother-in-law’s dead,” she said, her voice rising as she adds later that it looks like someone has “beat the crap out of them”.

“I think they’re both dead,” she said before breaking down into sobs, according to one of two 911 call recordings released yesterday by the state attorney general’s office.

The calls were released a day after eight family members were found dead with gunshots to the head at four properties in rural southern Ohio.

Authorities continued the scramble to determine who targeted that clan and why. Investigators said they interviewed more than 30 people in hopes of finding leads in the deaths of the seven adults and 16-year-old boy whose bodies were found Friday at homes south-west of Piketon.

It appeared some of the family members were killed as they slept, including a mother in bed with her four-day-old baby nearby, authorities said. The newborn and two other small children were not hurt.

Authorities said all the victims were members of the Rhoden family, but they declined to provide any more information about them or the status of the investigation. None of the deaths appeared self-inflicted and the authorities believe at least one assailant remained at large.

Authorities urged surviving members of the Rhoden family to take precautions and offered help. They also recommended that residents be wary.

Phil Fulton, the pastor of Union Hill Church, up the road from where some of the victims were found, described the family as close-knit and hard-working. He said they were previously part of his congregation, though not recently.

“We’re just doing everything we can to reach out to the family to show them love and comfort,” Fulton said.

Reading a statement from the family, Kimberly Newman of the Ohio Crisis Response Team told reporters gathered alongside the barricaded road that leads to some of the crime scenes, that they appreciated “the outpouring of prayers and support”.

The exact timing of the shootings remained unclear. Authorities got the first 911 call shortly before 8:00 am Friday, and the second call came several hours later from another location, where the caller said he found his cousin with a gunshot wound.

“I just went in hollering at him … And I looked up at him and he had a gunshot wound,” he said.