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Attorney-Mother and Grandmother Apparently Kill Mother?s Two Young Girls (and Then Themselves) to Protect Them From Alleged Molester-Father

By Janet Langjahr

California Husband and Wife have two year old and four year old Daughters.

Wife, an attorney, accuses Husband of molesting their older Daughter.

Husband denies the allegation.

Wife files for divorce.

California authorities do not pursue a criminal case against Husband.

Wife and Daughters and maternal Grandmother move from Southern California to Texas.

Wife again seeks prosecution of Husband for the alleged molestation of Daughters.

Husband’s attorney indicates that no experts back up Wife’s allegations against Husband. (Which, if true, is not conclusive.)

California trial court orders Mother to bring Daughters back to California – and indicates that the court plans to award temporary custody of Daughters to Husband’s Sister.

Rather than relinquishing Daughters to Husband’s family and placing them at risk of contact with Husband, either Mother or Grandmother shoots Daughters to death and then shoots the other adult before turning the gun on herself. All are killed.

Although both women have gunshot powder residue on their hands, the weapon is registered to Grandmother and investigators conclude that Grandmother was probably the shooter.

Read more in this Los Angeles KABC-TV 7 news article: Custody dispute suspected in Clemente murders and this Wall Street Journal posting: Investigators: Grandmother Pulled Trigger in Howrey Associate Slaying.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on January 03, 2010 (boomark / email).