Police arrested a man for investigation Friday evening after a woman and her four children were found bludgeoned to death, likely with an ax.

Officers found the man while making a door-to-door search of all motels and hotels in this community on Vancouver Island’s east coast, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Russ Grabb.

David John Gorton, 37, offered no resistance when police found him at the Sleepy Hollow Motel in Courtenay, Grabb said.

Gorton, the slain woman’s common-law husband, was being held for questioning, Grabb said.

Police believed Gorton was still in the area because his van was found abandoned earlier Friday in Courtenay, Grabb said.

Earlier, Grabb said police believe an ax was used in the bloody rampage at the family’s home in nearby Black Creek.

Dead are Heidi Challand, 28, and her three sons, Bobby, 12, David, 9, and Kelvin, 6, and a 2-1/2-year-old daughter, Jewel. They moved to the area earlier this year.

The bodies were discovered by Gorton’s visiting parents, who live in nearby Nanaimo.

The deaths appear to have taken place three to four days ago, Grabb said. Autopsies were scheduled today in Vancouver.