DELTONA, Fla. -- Officials began to identify Friday night the six people found brutally slain in a Deltona home after a friend checked to find out why a Burger King employee had not arrived at work, according to Local 6 News.

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The bodies of four men and two women were discovered about 6:30 a.m. in the three-bedroom house about 25 miles north of Orlando after a Burger King employee asked a friend to check on them, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said.

The six victims were unrecognizable, Local 6 News reported Friday night.

"It's a lot of trauma, a lot of blood splatter, just a very, very brutal crime," Johnson said. "It was the worst thing we've ever seen."

Officials said the victims ranged in age from 18 to the mid-30s, and said police technicians would have to use fingerprints and dental records to confirm each identity. A dog was also found dead in the home.

By Friday evening, officials had tentatively identified one victim through tattoos, but did not release the name. Autopsies were planned for Saturday and Sunday.

"I don't believe this was a random act by any means. I strongly believe these people knew who their assailants were," Johnson said, adding that it was "very, very possible" that more than one person was involved.

Johnson said the victims did not appear to have been family members and had not been living at the house long. Authorities said the bodies were found in different rooms, and there were signs of a struggle.

The sheriff did not offer a possible motive or say how the people were killed. Residents of the home had called authorities recently to report slashed tires on a car and "a fight sort of thing," Johnson said. He declined to elaborate, but said he was confident his department would solve the case.

"Normally, a case of this magnitude, people start talking," he said.

Burger King, in a statement, said "the victims of the tragedy are employees" of a Deltona franchise, and said the franchisee was working with local officials and the corporation during the investigation. A company spokeswoman later would not clarify whether all the victims worked for Burger King. The franchisee did not return calls for comment.

The restaurant, about two miles from the house, posted a sign that read, "Sorry, temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience." Professional counselors met with other workers at the restaurant.

At the scene, Steve Nathan said his daughter, Michelle Ann Nathan, 19, was one of the victims. She moved into the house about three months ago, and her boyfriend joined her last month. She and the other housemates worked at Burger King, he said.

"She was a fun-loving kid," he said. "She liked her car; she liked boys. She had just gotten a used Camaro, and she was really excited about her car."

His daughter had been stationed in Missouri with the U.S. Army but was recently released because of a medical condition, he said.

Aerial footage of the house showed a team of investigators donning white protective suits in the front yard. A blue Pontiac was parked in the driveway. Yellow police tape cordoned off the perimeter.

The house is tucked in a tidy, residential area of middle-class homes. Neighbors stood on corners talking, while children rode through the area on bicycles. County tax records show that the home is owned by a Brooklyn, N.Y., man.

Rocky Gonzalez, 22, rushed to the scene because he was concerned that one of his friends may have been a victim. Gonzalez said his friend had told him Thursday night that he was planning to stay at the house with someone who worked at Burger King.

A neighbor of the victims, India Harris, said she was visited by two investigators at 7 a.m., waking up her brother and cousin. Harris, 17, estimated four people lived in the house, but only knew the neighbors to say hello.

"They kept asking us, 'Did we know any of them?'" Harris said in a telephone interview. She said she did not.

Johnson said officials had identified subjects of interest, and were searching another house in Deltona. That house may be the home of people who used to live at the Telford Lane property, he said.

About five miles west of the crime scene, investigators searched a one-story, pink house and surrounded the property with yellow crime tape.

Neighbor Tracy Rivera said the home's owners, Joe and Norma Reidy, were away, and the husband had called asking Rivera to check on the house after hearing that several people were living there illegally.

"We assumed the Reidys had given them permission, come to find out no one was supposed to be there," Rivera said. When he went to check the property, Rivera said it "looked like a frat house."

No arrests have been made in connection with the crime, but the victims likely knew who killed them, investigators said.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.