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PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (CNN) -- Investigators are sifting through garbage cans collected at exits and rest areas, reviewing 55 surveillance tapes from toll plazas, and studying bullets and bullet fragments to determine who killed a family along the Florida Turnpike.
A couple and their two young boys, clasped in their mother's arms, were found shot to death early Friday on the southbound shoulder of the expressway near the Fort Pierce exit. All were shot multiple times while kneeling or lying on the ground, said St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara.
He identified them on Saturday as: Jose Luis Escobedo Jr., killed the day before his 29th birthday; Yessica Escobedo, 25; and their two sons, Luis Damian aged 3 and 4-year-old Luis Julian. (Watch the sheriff show family photos of smiling boys -- 3:02 )
"The woman in a defensive posture, had both of the children surrounded, underneath her arms, in an effort that we can assume was to protect them from the gunfire," Mascara said earlier. (Watch how the children were also targeted -- 1:49 )
Autopsies on the four will be conducted Monday, said Merv Waldren, spokesman for the St. Lucie County Medical Examiner.
Investigators believe the victims had pulled their vehicle to the side of the turnpike before someone else in the vehicle shot them and drove away sometime between 1:30 and 3 a.m., The Associated Press quoted Mascara as saying.
The four were believed to have been in a black 1998 4-door Jeep Cherokee with a Florida temporary tag that read M952180, Mascara said Saturday.
The Jeep now is considered to be a suspect vehicle, as it was not at the victims' home. The victims' neighbors told police that was the vehicle they drove, he said. (Watch sheriff reveal what was uncovered from the crime scene -- 1:58)
Evidence at the crime scene could help determine whether more than one gun was used, he added. (Gallery)
Residents living at a golf club near the scene of the shooting reported hearing gunshots between 1 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., Mascara said.
A woman who lives across the Turnpike from the crime scene told CNN she heard a series of six loud pops and looked at her bedroom clock, which showed the time as 2:24 a.m.
The woman and her husband looked outside but could not see anything in the dark, she said.
Relatives sought
A passing motorist found the Escobedos' bodies around mile marker 149, near the turnpike's intersection with I-95, one of the state's busiest interchanges, about 7:30 a.m. and alerted Florida Highway Patrol, Mascara said.
The sheriff asked that anyone with information that might be connected to the slayings call the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office at 772-462-3230 or 1-800-273-TIPS for those who wish to be anonymous.
"This is definitely not a murder-suicide," said Mascara. "This is a murder that we're pulling out all stops to find out who committed this crime."
Investigators working the case were emotionally affected by the slayings, he added.
"Everybody that went and viewed the bodies described it as one of the most gruesome scenes that they had been to."
CNN's Fredricka Whitfield and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Florida's Turnpike. ''Source: St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office''
A family of four found shot to death Friday alongside Florida's Turnpike in Fort Pierce, Florida was identified Saturday.

The bodies of Jose Luis Escobedo Jr., 28, Yessica Escobedo, 25, and their two sons, Luis Damian, 3, and Luis Julian, 4, were identified by St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara.

Sheriff's deputies are also looking for the family's car, a black 1998 Jeep Cherokee with temporary Florida licence plate M952180 in the rear window. Authorities believe that this was a suspect's car, as it was not at the victim's home, but neighbors of the family said that it was their car.

Sheriff Ken Mascara has said that the victims pulled their vehicle off the Turnpike between 1:30 and 3 a.m. when someone in the vehicle shot them and drove away.

A woman who lives across the turnpike reported hearing a series of six loud pops around 2:24 a.m. The woman and her husband looked outside, but could not see anything in the dark.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff's office has set up a tip line. Those with information are encouraged to call 1-(772)-462-3230 or 1-(800)-273-TIPS.

Sheriff Mascara said that more than 200 phone calls have come in to the tip line since they opened it up Friday afternoon.