A 52-year-old Lamoni man has been charged, along with his father and three brothers, in a Missouri case of child abuse involving children as young as 11 that local authorities are calling “horrendous.”

Iowan David A. Mohler, along with his father and brothers in Missouri, allegedly committed numerous crimes against children including rape, sodomy and forced sexual performance. Five victims have been located, and Missouri law enforcement officers continue to search for more, including possible bodies on land owned by the family. All of the victims thus far identified were under the age of 12 at the time of the crimes, which allegedly began in 1988.

Burrell Edwards Mohler Sr., 77 and of Independence, Missouri, has been charged with multiple counts of child rape. His sons — Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53 and also of Independence, and Jared Leroy Mohler, 48 of Columbia, Missouri — also face multiple counts of child rape. Roland Neil Mohler, 47 and of Bates City, is accused of using a child in a sexual performance. David A. Mohler faces one count of child rape, and all the suspects face sodomy charges.

The five men were arrested Tuesday and are being held in Missouri without bond.

David Mohler has worked nearly three decades for Graceland University in Lamoni, and was arrested at the school’s campus in Independence. University officials said the arrest happened without incident and have described the man as “a nice person” who worked well with others. David Mohler traveled from Iowa to Independence periodically to work on phone systems at the campus.

The case, according to Missouri law enforcement, began when several female relatives and one male relative of the five men reported that they had been abused. One of the female relatives, according to local news reports, informed officers that she had been forced to have sexual relations with a dog. The family members, who came forward to law enforcement during the summer, have been cooperating with the investigation.

Police believe the crimes were committed between 1988 and 1995, although the discovery of more victims may result in an expansion of the time frame. The family members told law enforcement that as children they and other victims wrote notes about the abuse and buried those notes in glass jars on the family’s property. Police are searching for those clues.