WA - 3 children, ages 13, 9 and 7, among 5 killed inside Fall City home, 15 y.o. in custody - 21 October 2024

[Knox]

Its quite possible they were terrible parents. Its no excuse, but its good if things like that are uncovered. It wouldn't absolve his criminal responsibility, imo.

Agree! That aside, I can't reconcile the murders of his siblings. IMO, he simply couldn't leave any witnesses. This was 100% pre-meditated.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I think if this goes to trial, we might hear something more from this grandmother-- maybe how she was allegedly bleeding her daughter dry, threatening to sue for hourly payment as the 'nanny granny.'

Could you explain this to me? What exactly is your theory about their grandmother?

 

[Charlot123]

I don't know why this article and the DM are saying their extreme religious beliefs, etc., are new news. I posted about that back in last October, almost a year ago. From my post:

family insiders told DailyMail.com that their idyllic existence had a dark side, with the ultra-religious parents imposing a strict schedule on their five children and having extremely 'high expectations' of them.
Full post with link to source if interested:

Post in thread 'WA - 3 children, ages 13, 9 and 7, among 5 killed inside Fall City home, 15 y.o. in custody - 21 October 2024'

Oct 27, 2024

I would love to learn more about the family dynamic. What causes a 15 year old to annihilate his family? My heart breaks for the young survivor. I hope she receives all the love and therapy she needs.

It's sounds like they were very controlling parents from various things I've read. Upthread there's been discussion that he had "gotten into “a lot of trouble” for failing some tests", and now this...

family insiders told DailyMail.com that their idyllic existence had a dark side, with the ultra-religious parents imposing a strict schedule on their five children and having...

• Gemmie

• 

Question is, do kids raised in hyperreligious, isolated, paranoid, militaristic and survivalist household, and homeschooled at this, have the chance to grow into normal adults?

When we read about Israel Keys household, we have to factor it in, but we can't as when he started his killings, he was a fully grown adult, who had served in the army, had a child and should have known right from wrong.

<modsnip: Removed opinion stated as fact> He probably felt alienated from all of them. He still lived under the same roof. While not minimizing the crime, we still have to judge him as a juvenile, methinks.

 

[Knox]

If all alienated kids raised in homeschooled, hyperreligious, isolated, paranoid, militaristic and survivalist households - are prone to become killers we should judge lightly. Our society is in big trouble.

I’m obviously exaggerating my point , but your post alarmed me. Primarily because we don’t have all the facts regarding the parents, but are seemingly accepting what the defense is putting out there - in what I consider to be an attempt to blame the parents for their own deaths.

JMO, I do very much respect your knowledge in this subject.

I

 

[Charlot123]

^^rsbm

I think if this goes to trial, we might hear something more from this grandmother-- maybe how she was allegedly bleeding her daughter dry, threatening to sue for hourly payment as the 'nanny granny.' Instead, the victim quit her RN job and moved far away from Edmonds to the Lake to enjoy being a stay-at-home parent full-time. MOO

I fail to see how the grandmother's choice not to raise the grandchildren for free contributed into the tragedy. It was Sarah's decision to have five children. Her mother might have another child and other grandchildren, too. What you are mentioning might point at the strained relationship between the generations, but the tension could have also been at the in-law level, not the parental one. I always keep it in mind, the proverbial "in-laws factor", at all levels of family hierarchy. I have "been there" and now am trying not to repeat "their" mistakes, but will inevitably make my own in this role. So the fact you are pointing at, while of relevance, is simply too common.

MOO, an antivaxer RN shouldn't work in a big hospital, to start with. Even pre-Covid it was the same. We all know that the effects of the vaccines may not last forever. Antibodies might wane with time, in adults, i have very concrete examples of it.

So JMO, as the mother Sarah opted out of vaccinating her kids. However, as an RN, she had to fully accept the consequences of her decision and quit working in the hospital. So all the better that Sarah chose to stay at home for financial reasons.

 

[Seattle1]

I fail to see how the grandmother's choice not to raise the grandchildren for free contributed into the tragedy.

^^rsbm

True, the alleged "choice of the grandmother" as cited by OP, did not contribute to the tragedy.

The allegation of tension between victim & maternal grandmother was in direct response to the recent defense allegations-- which the defense credited to the maternal grandmother.

The children's maternal grandmother allegedly reported that her daughter, the 15-year-old's mother, "was abusive and demeaning to the children." She allegedly told law enforcement she threatened to report her daughter if the abuse did not stop, court documents say.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Timing about right to blame the victims-- defense wants more time, still trying to keep the defendant out of adult court. Also doesn't explain why the defendant shot his younger siblings point blank in the face, and tried to blame his brother for the atrocities.

Parents' disturbing behavior before son killed them and 3 siblings

Police say the teen massacred his family at their $1.5million lakefront home in Fall City, Washington, on October 2024.

www.dailymail.co.uk

8/1/25

Yes! Not every child is raised in what we the public perceive to be a good or normal home environment. Just because these parents may have been ultra conservative, religious and homeschooled their children doesn't mean the home was abusive. Strict by today's standards perhaps and different, but not abusive.

Why would he kill his siblings in cold blood as well? Nope, I'm not buying the narrative G-Ma and the Defense are selling.

JMO

 

[Charlot123]

If all alienated kids raised in homeschooled, hyperreligious, isolated, paranoid, militaristic and survivalist households - are prone to become killers we should judge lightly. Our society is in big trouble.

I’m obviously exaggerating my point , but your post alarmed me. Primarily because we don’t have all the facts regarding the parents, but are seemingly accepting what the defense is putting out there - in what I consider to be an attempt to blame the parents for their own deaths.

JMO, I do very much respect your knowledge in this subject.

I

First, I was mostly pointing at the home situation as the rationale for the case to be tried in the juvenile court as opposed to adult. Simply because between having been raised in his parents' home as a child and adolescence and entering the court system the perpetrator has not lived anywhere else. He had absolutely no time to be exposed to another viewpoint and life.

I tried to make a parallel with Keyes for a reason. As we are told, Keyes started murdering after his discharge from the army. He had been exposed to people, to communities, had a girlfriend, a child...so while still keeping in mind that his childhood was very complex, there was some time for him to look around and for the society to play a positive role. In a simplistic way, "you had enough time to look at the big world." But then, Keyes showed pretty scary behavior even at 14 (cruelty to animals). If he were caught and prosecuted as an adolescent and knowing his social history, wouldn't we, the society, at least give him the chance - maybe move to a foster family, at least? To see a different life?

This, in a nutshell, is my pro-juvie argument. His parents are dead; so are his siblings except for one, so they are victims. But we can only try to learn from every case.

JMO, we as the society are not in trouble, but perhaps in danger. It is just a hypothesis that i'd like to discuss. The danger might emerge if kids raised in rigoristic households without positive external influence will continue, for financial or other reasons, to live in the same households after graduation.

I am wondering if the systems that have been proven to work well for youths with antisocial personality disorder, such as organized sports and the army, with all their problems that we are actively discussing nowadays, still be a good option for moving out, especially if the parenting was too strict or in any way, "unorthodox".

As always, thinking mostly about prevention.

 

[Charlot123]

^^rsbm

True, the alleged "choice of the grandmother" as cited by OP, did not contribute to the tragedy.

The allegation of tension between victim & maternal grandmother was in direct response to the recent defense allegations-- which the defense credited to the maternal grandmother.

Ah, got it, thank you!

Fall City is not far from me. So on one hand, it is all too sad, on the other, I can imagine what people might say, so I just decided not to follow the case.

What I am curious about (if it is in the documents) is whether the rift was mostly between MGM and her son-in-law or MGM and the M. It might be of relevance.

 

[Seattle1]

Ah, got it, thank you!

Fall City is not far from me. So on one hand, it is all too sad, on the other, I can imagine what people might say, so I just decided not to follow the case.

What I am curious about (if it is in the documents) is whether the rift was mostly between MGM and her son-in-law or MGM and the M. It might be of relevance.

Given the timing, I also take allegations & attributions from the defense with big grains of salt! They have one job right now, and it's to keep their client out of adult court.

What I know for certain is the shooter turns 16 in September, his next status hearing is also in September, and the grandmother being credited for making negative allegations about the wife/mother, is the same grandmother who last January asked the Judge not to allow them (i.e., the defense), unsupervised access to the house!

And not a hint of the victim being demeaning or abusive when requesting funds....

Help the Humiston-Ogden Family

The family's Attorney asked a Judge to deny the defense team unsupervised entry into the home after WSP had processed the scene for 20 hours and took over 1200 photographs -- adding that the grandmother wanted to have the property cleaned and to retrieve the family's personal items.

Status conference held for teen accused of killing 5 family members in Fall City

A 15-year-old boy accused of killing his parents and three siblings at their Fall City home in October remains in custody at the juvenile detention center.

www.king5.com

6/10/25

The next status conference is scheduled for Sept. 9.

 

[Seattle1]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/fall-city-teen-charged-with-killing-family-may-face-adult-court/

6/10/25

In what is essentially a mini trial to determine whether it is in the juvenile’s or public’s best interest to transfer a case to adult court, the juvenile court judge must weigh a series of factors.

Some of the factors the judge must consider include: the seriousness of the alleged offense to the community; the sophistication and maturity of the juvenile; the prospects for adequate protection of the public and the likelihood of rehabilitation of the juvenile if the case remains in juvenile court.

A King County judge said the factors themselves are narrow, asking defense for a written argument about what evidence that hasn’t yet been discovered is relevant to the decline hearing itself.

“I understand that there’s still some investigation, but the factors in the decline hearing are not all tied within some of the things that remain to investigate,” Judge Veronica Galván said. “So I want to make sure that we are not conflating the two.”

[mod snip more than ten percent of the article posted]

________________________________________________________

Defense said at last hearing, "initial testing" showed contamination of the firearms taken into evidence. Firearms, plural? Stop the gaslighting-- Gestaut, -- we just need to know about the firearm used to kill the victims.... JMO

 

[Knox]

Given the timing, I also take allegations & attributions from the defense with big grains of salt! They have one job right now, and it's to keep their client out of adult court.

What I know for certain is the shooter turns 16 in September, his next status hearing is also in September, and the grandmother being credited for making negative allegations about the wife/mother, is the same grandmother who last January asked the Judge not to allow them (i.e., the defense), unsupervised access to the house!

And not a hint of the victim being demeaning or abusive when requesting funds....

Help the Humiston-Ogden Family

I believe the reason stated for not allowing access to the home was because they wanted to have a cleaning crew come in? If she and the brother are estate executors, selling the home seemed to be a high priority for at least one of them.

I find comfort in the fact the surviving daughter will be well taken care of, financially speaking - due to the parents planning. In terms of the expenses for those caring for her. She will qualify for free victims services, social security monthly death benefits until 18 and likely more we don’t know about.

 

[Sundog]

First, I was mostly pointing at the home situation as the rationale for the case to be tried in the juvenile court as opposed to adult. Simply because between having been raised in his parents' home as a child and adolescence and entering the court system the perpetrator has not lived anywhere else. He had absolutely no time to be exposed to another viewpoint and life.

I tried to make a parallel with Keyes for a reason. As we are told, Keyes started murdering after his discharge from the army. He had been exposed to people, to communities, had a girlfriend, a child...so while still keeping in mind that his childhood was very complex, there was some time for him to look around and for the society to play a positive role. In a simplistic way, "you had enough time to look at the big world." But then, Keyes showed pretty scary behavior even at 14 (cruelty to animals). If he were caught and prosecuted as an adolescent and knowing his social history, wouldn't we, the society, at least give him the chance - maybe move to a foster family, at least? To see a different life?

This, in a nutshell, is my pro-juvie argument. His parents are dead; so are his siblings except for one, so they are victims. But we can only try to learn from every case.

JMO, we as the society are not in trouble, but perhaps in danger. It is just a hypothesis that i'd like to discuss. The danger might emerge if kids raised in rigoristic households without positive external influence will continue, for financial or other reasons, to live in the same households after graduation.

I am wondering if the systems that have been proven to work well for youths with antisocial personality disorder, such as organized sports and the army, with all their problems that we are actively discussing nowadays, still be a good option for moving out, especially if the parenting was too strict or in any way, "unorthodox".

As always, thinking mostly about prevention.

Are there many cases of Amish children murdering their entire families due to their lifestyles? I really doubt it. JMO

 

[girlhasnoname]

Are there many cases of Amish children murdering their entire families due to their lifestyles? I really doubt it. JMO

I couldn't agree more @Sundog. The pictures I've seen posted of this family showed a happy family enjoying many social activities and sports together. They all looked physically healthy with genuine smiles and enjoying themselves.

I know pictures don't always paint a true picture, but in a lot of cases of abuse there tends to be more of the more obvious signs: sad faces, isolated, malnourished, and unclean.

I don't know the exact motivation behind this murder, but I get tired of the "strict parents made me do it" routine. I also find the timing of the GM and her newfound revelations more than a little suspect to be honest, but will keep an open mind until after the hearing.

If he's charged as an adult, we will know more information. If he stays in the juvenile system, I don't think we will due to the privacy laws.

JMO

 

[girlhasnoname]

I believe the reason stated for not allowing access to the home was because they wanted to have a cleaning crew come in? If she and the brother are estate executors, selling the home seemed to be a high priority for at least one of them.

I find comfort in the fact the surviving daughter will be well taken care of, financially speaking - due to the parents planning. In terms of the expenses for those caring for her. She will qualify for free victims services, social security monthly death benefits until 18 and likely more we don’t know about.

True that the surviving daughter will be okay financially, but what a traumatic horrible thing to have witnessed and suffered through.

Her entire family was brutally wiped out by her very own brother who almost killed her too. That's something she may never be able to fully recover from. I cannot even begin to imagine.

JMO

 

[Sjöberg]

Question is, do kids raised in hyperreligious, isolated, paranoid, militaristic and survivalist household, and homeschooled at this, have the chance to grow into normal adults?

Wait, does the US not have religious freedom?
Or do some human rights not apply to humans that are underage?

I'm not familiar with the US laws, but forcing your religion on another human is genereally seen as a breach of human rights, AFAIK.

 

[Seattle1]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1953554239965249855

 

[Charlot123]

Wait, does the US not have religious freedom?
Or do some human rights not apply to humans that are underage?

I'm not familiar with the US laws, but forcing your religion on another human is genereally seen as a breach of human rights, AFAIK.

It is complicated. I don’t want to attack any religion because they are the same and the nicest people sometimes come from really small sectarian communities. (Also, because in some countries these small communities are persecuted and i consider it unfair). But small groups, too often, would not allow kids bring home friends of different beliefs not because they are bad but because they “won’t understand our traditions”. To me, this already leads to stunting one’s social growth.

In Humistons’ case, the conflict that had been discussed was of different kind. Consider this, some churches (Methodists, Unitarians, Lutherans) might be considered “too liberal” by parents of a more conservative outlook. This does limit the kids’ choices to have friends.

 

[Knox]

Hundreds of thousands of children across the US are raised in homes where religious beliefs/ideologies limit their interaction with influences from the outside world. This is not uncommon at all.

We know nothing about Mark and Sarah Humiston’s parenting outside of a few media sound bites, quoted from a defense attorney filing. @Seattle1 has shared a link to a request for financial help related to SH’s mother - which states something very different than what she allegedly told a detective.

Both things SH’s mother stated cannot be true at the same time. If the allegations were as bad as she claimed, why didn’t she report it and not just threaten her daughter? I’m curious what Mark’s parents think about these claims?

IMO, it’s prudent to reserve judgment until more factual information is released from both the prosecution and defense. Not just a one sided account, from a biased source hoping to keep their client’s case in juvenile court by blaming the victims for their own murders. JMO.

 

[OneLove]

........ If the allegations were as bad as she claimed, why didn’t she report it and not just threaten her daughter? ..........

Most likely because she wanted to influence her daughter to change her behavior for the better (and for the highest benefit of the children) but without getting her in legal trouble in doing so. I'd guess most loving and concerned parents can identify with this wholeheartedly.