UT - Family of 8 found dead in home by gunshot in Enoch, Jan 2023

[RememberingRyan]

I haven't seen anything say that he "lost" his job, only that he "left" his job within the week prior to the murders? Tausha filed for divorce on December 21st but did not have him served with papers until December 27th - MOO, he may have "left" his job sometime shortly after papers were served. Tausha last met with her attorney the day before she and her children were found deceased. While we cannot know the motive for certain without explicit information from LE, everything I've read makes me think this was just a straight forward case of an abuser taking the most extreme way out of his marriage once he knew it was over.

 

[Marysmith]

I haven't seen anything say that he "lost" his job, only that he "left" his job within the week prior to the murders? Tausha filed for divorce on December 21st but did not have him served with papers until December 27th - MOO, he may have "left" his job sometime shortly after papers were served. Tausha last met with her attorney the day before she and her children were found deceased. While we cannot know the motive for certain without explicit information from LE, everything I've read makes me think this was just a straight forward case of an abuser taking the most extreme way out of his marriage once he knew it was over.

Left is definitely different than lost.
I feel like he planned this then for awhile… it’s so, so awful. It’s like they were doomed and just sitting ducks. It makes me so sad and feel so hopeless.

 

[Erutan]

I haven't seen anything say that he "lost" his job, only that he "left" his job within the week prior to the murders? Tausha filed for divorce on December 21st but did not have him served with papers until December 27th - MOO, he may have "left" his job sometime shortly after papers were served. Tausha last met with her attorney the day before she and her children were found deceased. While we cannot know the motive for certain without explicit information from LE, everything I've read makes me think this was just a straight forward case of an abuser taking the most extreme way out of his marriage once he knew it was over.

bbm
So sorry for the victims.
Unbelievable.
His own children. His babies.
The woman who married and bore him children.
And unless we know more, I'm thinking his mother in law did not deserve the fate he meted out to her, either.

Left is definitely different than lost.
I feel like he planned this then for awhile… it’s so, so awful. It’s like they were doomed and just sitting ducks. It makes me so sad and feel so hopeless.

bbm
Agreed. Helpless.

Trying to understand that he might have been depressed and mentally unfit; but I'm mostly getting a picture of an ongoing abuse situation ?
His wife didn't plan to leave him because he 'cherished' her and 'treated her respectfully' !

Possibly he was a monster all along, and she had had it ?
Couldn't take it anymore ?
M00.

Eta : Please know I'm not blaming anyone ; but if you need to leave, just do it when the other partner is away and meet them at a later date, with an attorney -- and at a public place.
Don't be alone with them !
This goes for men as well.

 

[Erutan]

I haven't seen anything say that he "lost" his job, only that he "left" his job within the week prior to the murders ? Tausha filed for divorce on December 21st but did not have him served with papers until December 27th - MOO, he may have "left" his job sometime shortly after papers were served. Tausha last met with her attorney the day before she and her children were found deceased. While we cannot know the motive for certain without explicit information from LE, everything I've read makes me think this was just a straight forward case of an abuser taking the most extreme way out of his marriage once he knew it was over.

Emphasis mine.
Thanks for clarifying, @RememberingRyan !

This crime sounds well thought out and planned, then !

 

[Snoop Sister]

So sad…so many lives destroyed. Kids who didn’t even have a chance to explore life.

 

[renah]

This is so, so horrible.
I looked at the Facebook link provided. All those family photos..
Had to go all the way back to 2018 before I found a genuine smile.

 

[Erutan]

So sad…so many lives destroyed. Kids who didn’t even have a chance to explore life.

It makes me angry at him.
Murder is (imo) an ultimate form of theft.
Theft of lives that he had no right to take.

 

[Snoopster]

It makes me angry at him.
Murder is (imo) an ultimate form of theft.
Theft of lives that he had no right to take.

@Erutan I FEEL your frustation at the loss of the family based on you last several posts. I am equally angry. I feel your pain.

We all feel the loss of this family, including such young ones. It seems so senseless.
I still wonder how he ended up with a weapon after taking them away from the rest of the family.

 

[Marysmith]

bbm
So sorry for the victims.
Unbelievable.
His own children. His babies.
The woman who married and bore him children.
And unless we know more, I'm thinking his mother in law did not deserve the fate he meted out to her, either.

bbm
Agreed. Helpless.

Trying to understand that he might have been depressed and mentally unfit; but I'm mostly getting a picture of an ongoing abuse situation ?
His wife didn't plan to leave him because he 'cherished' her and 'treated her respectfully' !

Possibly he was a monster all along, and she had had it ?
Couldn't take it anymore ?
M00.

Eta : Please know I'm not blaming anyone ; but if you need to leave, just do it when the other partner is away and meet them at a later date, with an attorney -- and at a public place.
Don't be alone with them !
This goes for men as well.

It’s really hard with children though. He still would have had custodial rights.

 

[Erutan]

@Erutan I FEEL your frustation at the loss of the family based on you last several posts. I am equally angry. I feel your pain.

We all feel the loss of this family, including such young ones. It seems so senseless.
I still wonder how he ended up with a weapon after taking them away from the rest of the family.

Thanks.
It's just that I know a lovely couple who would give anything to be blessed with little ones.
And then you have people who are abusive, or in this case worse !
Some people do not deserve the blessing they've been given.

As far as your last sentence; I think he planned this so that there'd be no chance of fighting back and to me that seems so evil and such a betrayal of his family who may have trusted him enough to not see this coming ?
Maybe they couldn't even imagine him committing this atrocity.
Imo.

It’s really hard with children though. He still would have had custodial rights.

That's true. ^^^

I'm curious if at his place of employment (insurance salesperson ?) if anyone saw any red flags or thought he was 'off', somehow ?

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Hello fellow Sleuthers. I learned about this horrific case only today. The link below contains the full statement from the Earl family. I found this part baffling:

We would caution media outlets and the public at large about using our family’s story for any advocacy of political agendas. Protective arms were purposely removed from the home prior to the incident because all adults were properly trained to protect human life. This is the type of loss that will continue to occur in families, communities and this nation when protective arms are no longer accessible.

The second sentence is what baffles me most. And the third sentence completely contradicts it.

Anyway, I would really like to know who "purposely" removed "protective arms" from the home. Utah does not have red flag gun laws, so it couldn't have been law enforcement.

Please note I am NOT trying to start a gun debate. I just find this really, really confusing. What does anyone else think?

READ: Earl family issues statement following deaths of grandmother, daughter and 5 children - East Idaho News

The following is a statement from the Boyd and Gail Earl family. Gail Earl and her daughter Tausha Haight, along with Haight’s five children, were shot and killed in their Enoch, Utah home this week. You can read more about the incident here. As we try to make sense of this unthinkable tragedy...

www.eastidahonews.com

 

[Marysmith]

Hello fellow Sleuthers. I learned about this horrific case only today. The link below contains the full statement from the Earl family. I found this part baffling:



The second sentence is what baffles me most. And the third sentence completely contradicts it.

Anyway, I would really like to know who "purposely" removed "protective arms" from the home. Utah does not have red flag gun laws, so it couldn't have been law enforcement.

Please note I am NOT trying to start a gun debate. I just find this really, really confusing. What does anyone else think?

READ: Earl family issues statement following deaths of grandmother, daughter and 5 children - East Idaho News

The following is a statement from the Boyd and Gail Earl family. Gail Earl and her daughter Tausha Haight, along with Haight’s five children, were shot and killed in their Enoch, Utah home this week. You can read more about the incident here. As we try to make sense of this unthinkable tragedy...

www.eastidahonews.com

It was mentioned before but I think the posts were removed… it seems that the perp removed the guns from the home at some prior time.

 

[Erutan]

Sounds from what we know that the perp planned this ?
I agree that the families' statements are contradictory.
Not sure what to think.
Sorry for their terrible loss, though.

 

[Ceska]

Hello fellow Sleuthers. I learned about this horrific case only today. The link below contains the full statement from the Earl family. I found this part baffling:



The second sentence is what baffles me most. And the third sentence completely contradicts it.

Anyway, I would really like to know who "purposely" removed "protective arms" from the home. Utah does not have red flag gun laws, so it couldn't have been law enforcement.

Please note I am NOT trying to start a gun debate. I just find this really, really confusing. What does anyone else think?

READ: Earl family issues statement following deaths of grandmother, daughter and 5 children - East Idaho News

The following is a statement from the Boyd and Gail Earl family. Gail Earl and her daughter Tausha Haight, along with Haight’s five children, were shot and killed in their Enoch, Utah home this week. You can read more about the incident here. As we try to make sense of this unthinkable tragedy...

www.eastidahonews.com

Sounds like he removed the guns after his wife filed for divorce.

Utah man who killed his family took guns from home before murder-suicide

The revelation provides more insight into what happened in the days leading up to a murder-suicide that eight people dead, including five children.

www.fox10phoenix.com

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Sounds like he removed the guns after his wife filed for divorce.

Utah man who killed his family took guns from home before murder-suicide

The revelation provides more insight into what happened in the days leading up to a murder-suicide that eight people dead, including five children.

www.fox10phoenix.com

Oh, I get it, so she wouldn't have a weapon to defend herself. That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

I found this article that answers my question.

Family of slain Utah family says husband took guns from home

ENOCH, Utah (AP) — A Utah man who fatally shot his five children, mother-in-law and wife and then killed himself removed guns owned by himself and his wife days before the murder-suicide, leaving the family “vulnerable,” a relative said Friday.

apnews.com

 

[Howl]

I came across the perp's obituary and some of the condolences. Apparently, he owned his own insurance agency and sold it quite recently.

 

[Marysmith]

I came across the perp's obituary and some of the condolences. Apparently, he owned his own insurance agency and sold it quite recently.

Gosh - one of the condolences starts out “Michael was a great guy!” Really?! Really… JMO

 

[strawberry]

Gosh - one of the condolences starts out “Michael was a great guy!” Really?! Really… JMO

There's a whole twitter thread about the comments on the obituary. They also photoshopped the family picture and replaced him with Jesus for a Go Fund Me. Very strange

 

[303gmf]

There's a whole twitter thread about the comments on the obituary. They also photoshopped the family picture and replaced him with Jesus for a Go Fund Me. Very strange

That photoshop is downright disturbing!