A Utah father shot and killed his family members – including his wife, their five children, and his mother-in-law – before turning the gun on himself. The father also left a bizarre suicide note before the killing spree that took the lives of eight family members in the southern Utah town of Enoch.
On Friday, investigators released a 57-page report on the tragic murders and suicide that occurred in January. Authorities discovered that the father, Michael Haight, had a history of violent behavior toward his family. Police previously investigated the father for abuse, but no criminal charges were filed against him.
A person who was not a member of the family tipped off the Department of Child and Family Services, who then informed the Enoch Police about potential child abuse by Haight.
The family’s eldest daughter, Macie Haight, informed police in 2020 that the 42-year-old father committed multiple assaults. In one attack, she said her father choked her, and she was “very afraid that he was going to keep her from breathing and kill her.”
CBS News reported, “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.”
Haight denied the allegations of abuse. He admitted that he had been angry, but attributed his aggravation to his father’s death and his brother’s divorce. Haight told investigators that Macie was “mouthy.”
The family’s matriarch, Tausha Haight, told authorities that she didn’t want to file criminal charges against her husband. She hoped that the investigation would be “a wake-up call” for Michael.
An investigator told the father that his behavior was “close to assaultive,” however, Enoch Police and the Iron County Attorney decided not to file criminal charges against him. The city, child protective services, and prosecutors determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges against Haight.
The Iron County attorney’s office said in a statement, “Although specifics are not articulated, this conclusion was likely based on an inability to prove each element of the offense(s) beyond reasonable doubt and/or statute of limitations barriers.”
Haight had lost his insurance job, but was exploring opening an independent agency, according to people close to the family.
Tausha had filed for divorce two weeks before the murders. Just days before the massacre, Michael removed all of the guns from the home that could have been used to stop that attack. Before the murders, Haight reportedly did an online search for “gunshot in a house.”
On Jan. 4, police did a welfare check at the Haight residence after a friend said Tausha had missed an appointment earlier in the week. However, the police left after not seeing anything unusual.
An Enoch police officer wrote in a report, “No one answered the door. It didn’t appear that anyone was in the home since no noise could be heard.”
A “family friend” entered the Haight’s home through an open door later that day, and then informed police of the murder-suicide crime scene.
“Tausha Haight, her mother Gail Earl and her four-year-old child were found in the couple’s first floor bedroom laying on pillows, partially covered with blankets and surrounded by blood,” the Associated Press reported. “The other children were found in bedrooms throughout the home, all of them in their beds except for the seven-year-old on the floor and Haight, who was found lying on the floor on a sleeping bag.”
Michael Haight left a bizarre suicide note.
“This is nonsense and I can’t handle it for one more day. We will not be a burden on society. I kept asking for help and you wouldn’t listen,” Haight wrote, according to the report. “I would rather rot in hell than to put up with another day of this manipulation and control over me.”
In the report, authroities also released bodycam video of police entering the Haight’s house and discovering the dead bodies.
(WARNING: Graphic video)
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