A Utah man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife, then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records.
Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames said during a Thursday press conference that officers had been involved in investigations involving the 42-year-old man and his family a “couple of years prior.” He did not elaborate.
The crime rocked Enoch, a small town in southern Utah about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas of the country and communities of new homes are made up of large families that belong, like most of Utah, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.
Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the deceased were well-known in the town. “Many of us have served with them in church, in the community and gone to school with these individuals,” Dotson said Wednesday night. “This community at this time is hurting. They’re feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions.”
Officials said that they believed that Michael Haight had killed his wife, his mother-in-law and the couple’s five children, and that each of the victims had gunshot wounds.
Court records show that Tausha Haight, 40, filed for divorce from her husband on Dec. 21. Her lawyer said Thursday that Haight had been served with the divorce papers on Dec. 27.
Tausha Haight and other members of the family were seen the night before the killings at a church group for young women, Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said. Police were dispatched to the family’s home Wednesday afternoon for a welfare check after someone reported that Tausha Height had missed an appointment earlier in the week, city officials said.
The victims were found inside the house. The children ranged in age from 4 to 17 and included three girls and two boys, authorities said. The other victim was Tausha Haight’s 78-year-old mother, Gail Earl.
James Park, who represented Tausha Haight in the divorce case, said she had not expressed any fear that her husband would physically hurt her but he declined to elaborate, citing the investigation into the killings. Park said he only met with her twice, mostly recently on Tuesday, and said she “was an incredibly nice lady.” (SOURCE)
