Around The Region

Woman, 2 children killed in Elkhart fire\nELKHART, Ind. -- A fire Thursday morning in an Elkhart duplex left a woman and two young children dead, a fire department official said.\nThe names of the woman and the two children, ages 1 and 2 1/2, were not immediately released.\nElkhart County Coroner Jeff Landrum said the causes of death weren't immediately known.\nThe fire broke out about 9:42 a.m. and was quickly put out, Fire Chief Dennis Mann said. The side of the duplex where the fire began was heavily damaged, he said.\nThe cause of the fire remains under investigation.\n2 bodies found blocks from triple-slaying scene\nHAMMOND, Ind. -- Police were looking for possible links Thursday between the slayings of two people found dead in a minivan and a triple slaying that occurred about 16 blocks away.\nThe bodies of two men were found inside a minivan about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 16 hours after three bodies were discovered in a nearby remote area, police said.\nNo arrests have been made, police said Thursday.\nThe minivan was parked at a Ramada Inn near the Toll Road. The bodies were found by a man who had stopped to eat at a neighboring restaurant, police said.\nBoth victims in the van had been shot in the head, a Lake County coroner's office spokeswoman said. They were identified as Juan Gonzales, 37, of East Chicago and Eliseo Villarreal, 49, of Hammond.\nHammond police Chief John Cory told WGN that he would not rule out a connection between those two deaths and the three earlier.\nOfficers found the other three shooting victims about 6 p.m. Tuesday near the Illinois-Indiana border after passing motorists reported what they thought was a traffic accident, Hammond police spokesman Chris Matonovich said.\nTwo of the victims had died at the scene and the third died shortly after arriving at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, he said.\nThe victims were Edward Zavala, 53, and Louis Salvatore, 36, both of East Chicago, and Elizabeth Rae Miller, 33, of Dyer.