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

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In an amazing coincidence, the book I was reading today mentioned the case of John List, another family annihilator who killed his wife, mother, and three children in 1971.

I am oversimplifying and paraphrasing, but by all accounts, List sincerely believed he was saving his children's souls by killing them while they were still believers who would thereby go straight to heaven, rather than allowing them to mature and therefore possibly turn away from the church and commit sins that would doom them.

The difference is that instead of dying by suicide, List created a new life for himself and lived free, even marrying again, until he was finally apprehended in 1989.

I wonder if Haight had similar rationalizations about the reasons he was killing his children.
 
IzzyBlanche said:
In an amazing coincidence, the book I was reading today mentioned the case of John List, another family annihilator who killed his wife, mother, and three children in 1971.

I am oversimplifying and paraphrasing, but by all accounts, List sincerely believed he was saving his children's souls by killing them while they were still believers who would thereby go straight to heaven, rather than allowing them to mature and therefore possibly turn away from the church and commit sins that would doom them.

The difference is that instead of dying by suicide, List created a new life for himself and lived free, even marrying again, until he was finally apprehended in 1989.

I wonder if Haight had similar rationalizations about the reasons he was killing his children.
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I have very strong doubts List actually believed that. I think he was yet another mediocre man who lost his job, hid his debts, and was losing control over his growing family's thoughts and actions. So, rather than own up to his failures and accept that his children were going to be adults with their own lives and choices, he murdered them all so that they couldn't leave him and wouldn't know he'd failed. And then he blithely set up his life somewhere new.

John List claiming religion made him do it is like Bundy claiming explicit material made him do it. Sounds good in a tabloid headline, but is ever so much garbage to conceal their own inadequacies. I'm sure List had rationalisations for his actions that may have involved religion, but under the surface, they were all about control.

And from what little we know, I think Haight killed them all because he was losing control of them in this life, and thought his temple marriage and sealing to them would mean if they all died, he'd still be joined to them and in control of them in the afterlife. So, before his wife could divorce him and take his children, he murdered them. It makes absolute sense if you know how LDS people think. He's just yet another controlling man who couldn't stand the fact that his wife was actually standing up to him after twenty years. That she was making choices about her life, and their children, that didn't involve or defer to him. His motivation was incredibly like List, he just looked for his 'do over' in the afterlife, because of his particular beliefs.

MOO
 
List also killed his mother, who lived in an attic apartment, and she had been wealthy and didn't know that the money was rapidly running out.

Thing is, that house he lived in had a genuine Tiffany stained-glass window that was worth more than $200,000 in 1971 dollars, and would have taken care of his financial problems, at least for a while.
 
airportwoman said:
List also killed his mother, who lived in an attic apartment, and she had been wealthy and didn't know that the money was rapidly running out.

Thing is, that house he lived in had a genuine Tiffany stained-glass window that was worth more than $200,000 in 1971 dollars, and would have taken care of his financial problems, at least for a while.
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I think that shows the coldbloodedness of his crime as clearly as anything, along with the meticulous arrangements he made in the lead up to the crime, and the letter he left. If he'd made moves to sell the Tiffany, or the home, or any of their other comforts, it would have been very much out in the open that their money was gone and he was unemployed. He decided that murdering everyone was a better solution. Essentially, he crunched the numbers, and decided that murder was the course of action that put him in the black. If ever a man deserved the death penalty, List did. He got life imprisonment instead, which was the maximum they could give him at the time.
 
iamshadow21 said:
I think that shows the coldbloodedness of his crime as clearly as anything, along with the meticulous arrangements he made in the lead up to the crime, and the letter he left. If he'd made moves to sell the Tiffany, or the home, or any of their other comforts, it would have been very much out in the open that their money was gone and he was unemployed. He decided that murdering everyone was a better solution. Essentially, he crunched the numbers, and decided that murder was the course of action that put him in the black. If ever a man deserved the death penalty, List did. He got life imprisonment instead, which was the maximum they could give him at the time.
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I always thought that he had no idea about the worth of that object as well.
It’s unbelievably cold and evil what he did…
 
jaeljoh said:
Police report outlines father's violent, controlling behavior 2 years before Enoch murders

"More than two years before an Enoch father shot and killed his family in their home, police investigated an allegation that he'd assaulted his eldest daughter multiple times, including slamming her head into a wooden surface and trying to choke her."
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I’m not surprised but this is so sad. I’m glad that this was found (by journalists it seems) and released this so some in their community can maybe start to realize the truth about Michael Haight.
 
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jaeljoh said:
Police report outlines father's violent, controlling behavior 2 years before Enoch murders

"More than two years before an Enoch father shot and killed his family in their home, police investigated an allegation that he'd assaulted his eldest daughter multiple times, including slamming her head into a wooden surface and trying to choke her."
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"I advised Michael that his behavior was very close to assaultive," the officer writes in the supplemental report. "I advised him that I did not intend to charge him with any crime at this time. I talked to him about the importance of Macie continuing to speak with a therapist. I asked him to not interfere with that. I also advised him that he should continue seeing someone about his anger. I advised him that I would much rather be having this conversation with him instead of taking him to jail."

In a follow-up interview, the officer told Tausha Haight to call police if she had any issues.

"Tausha indicated that she is in hopes that this case will be a wake-up call for Michael. She stated that she does not believe that criminal charges will be appropriate at this point," the report reads.
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Tausha was wrong. Like most people in an abusive family, she justified Michael's behavior.
Their daughter Macie was strong and observant. Unfortunately that did not save her or her family.

<sigh>
 
jaeljoh said:
Police report outlines father's violent, controlling behavior 2 years before Enoch murders

"More than two years before an Enoch father shot and killed his family in their home, police investigated an allegation that he'd assaulted his eldest daughter multiple times, including slamming her head into a wooden surface and trying to choke her."
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Not surprising ... considering what he did 2 years later.

How sad for the rest of that family.
It makes the obit even more loathsome.
Not surprised it was pulled.
The victims deserved better !
M00.
 
RememberingRyan said:
I was livid when I read the obit. But it is important to take a step back and remember the culture this family is part of. This is how they have been taught to cope. To compartmentalize, to believe that nearly all sins will be forgiven if the person sincerely repents (even after death), to believe that everything in this life is a test of faith and worthiness, and that every person choses their own struggles. Many of these are people who believe that this event is a test of their own faith and they are signaling that they still believe in their eternal families and that they forgive this person whom they still believe might be part of that everlasting life they will experience. The surviving family did not kill those women and children. They are victims in this even if it is hard to comprehend how their perspectives can appear so foreign. I hate everything that contributed to Michael Haight harming and and literally destroying the lives of the people who loved and trusted him. But the remaining people who cared about him are just trying to cope with and reconcile the internal conflict they are facing right now after a devastating loss of eight people they loved.
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I appreciate that you are trying to be understanding...but I don't care what religion you are in. You DON'T have a right to be praised after murdering your children. If they are praising him then they are part of the problem.
 
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