Michael Haight is accused of the murders of his wife, Tausha, 40, and their five children, who ranged in age from 4 to 17.
Michael Haight is accused of the murders of his wife, Tausha, 40, and their five children, who ranged in age from 4 to 17.
Chilling Google searches from the phone a Utah father who killed his wife, five children, and mother-in-law strongly suggest the twisted killings were likely “premeditated”.
Michael Haight, 42, is accused of brutally murdering his wife, Tausha, 40, his five children with ages ranging from four to 17, and his mother-in-law Gail Earl, 78, before allegedly taking his own life.
Following a welfare check on January 4, authorities discovered the seven victims as well as Haight.
Now, according to a newly unsealed search warrant affidavit, Haight’s phone, which was found next to his body, contained the search history “how loud” the sound of multiple weapons might be and whether they could be heard by neighbours.
The searches specifically said: “how loud is a 9mm”, “how loud is a 40mm”, “can you hear a gunshot in a house”, and “can neighbours hear gunshots”.
Five phones, tablets and iPads were found in the master bedroom where the bodies of two adults and a child were discovered.
The Google searches were made just five days prior to the alleged murder-suicide.
A law enforcement official at the front door of the Enoch, Utah, home where eight family members were found dead from gunshot wounds. Photo / AP
Police told KSLTV that neighbours told officers that one of Haight’s daughters had sent a text message to a friend the night before she was found deceased, “stating her dad came home, was acting strange, and she was worried”.
It was also revealed Haight had been investigated two years prior for child abuse, but local police and prosecutors decided not to criminally charge him.
Police records obtained by the Associated Press shed light on warning signs and a previous police investigation into a violent pattern of behaviour Haight exhibited toward his family.
Authorities said they were aware of previous problems in the home but didn’t elaborate during a news conference following the January 4 killings in the small town of Enoch, citing an ongoing investigation.
It was revealed that Tausha had filed for divorce from her husband, Michael, on December 21 just weeks before the slayings.
In a 2020 interview with authorities, Macie Haight, the family’s eldest daughter, detailed multiple assaults, including one where she was choked by her father and “very afraid that he was going to keep her from breathing and kill her”.
The child abuse investigation followed an August 27, 2020, police call from a non-family member reporting potential child abuse. Macie, then 14, told investigators that her father’s violence started in 2017 and had included choking and shaking, including a recent incident where he grabbed her by the shoulders and banged her into a wooden piece along the back of the couch.
In his interview with investigators, Haight denied assaulting his daughter.
He said Macie was “mouthy” and admitted to getting angry, attributing some struggles to his father’s death and brother’s divorce.
She also told police he would belittle his wife.
According to police Haight’s wife didn’t want criminal charges filed against him and hoped the incident would be a “wake-up call”.
Despite police telling him his behaviour was “close to assaultive”, they didn’t charge him.
An account from a friend of the family on social media offered potential insight into the father-of-five’s allegedly unstable mindset in the lead-up to the murders, as well as his abusive behaviour.
“He was a two-faced, abusive monster.
“My brother and sis-in-law were good friends with them for years. My brother said he was controlling, manipulative, and mentally abusive for years but no one knew how bad until recently.
“He would demand she have dinner on the table ready when he got home. No one ate until he took the first bite.
“If she was preparing dinner and he would call and say he wanted something else, she had to start over.
The Enoch, Utah, home where eight people were found dead in early January. Photo / AP
“Once he was late coming home so she let the kids start eating. When he got home and saw them eating without him he threw all the food on the floor and made her start dinner all over again.”
According to friends, Haigh controlled his wife’s friendships, and just days before her murder, she missed an appointment with a women’s crisis centre.
Police believe Haight carried out the shootings two weeks after his wife had filed for divorce and just days after Tausha’s sister Jennie Earl said he took guns from the house that could have been used to stop him.
In a statement, the White House called the slayings “tragic” and commented on how it had occurred “less than one month” after the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting.
