Utah dad who killed his family blames wife in suicide note

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The Utah father who killed his five kids, wife and mother-in-law and then shot himself left a suicide note saying he’d rather “rot in hell’ than “put up” with his “manipulative” spouse another day.

Michael Haight, 42, was being investigated for child abuse when he shot his family earlier this year and then turned the gun on himself.

Police also released chilling bodycam footage of the Jan. 4 shooting, showing cops entering the silent family home in the small town of Enoch, in southwestern Utah.

In his bizarre suicide note, Haight cast himself as the victim and blamed his wife, Tausha, the Daily Mail reported.

“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 allegedly wrote. “I would rather rot in hell than to put up with another day of this manipulation and control over me.”

Haight fatally shot his daughters Macie, Briley, Sienna, and sons Ammon and Gavin, as well as Tausha’s mother Gail Early, 78. 

Tausha had been planning to file for divorce from Haight when he killed her and the rest of their family. 

News of the suicide note comes after documents obtained by the Deseret News through a public records request detailed how Haight took firearms from the home, was investigated on suspicion of child abuse, and searched online for “gunshot in a house” prior to the murders.


Michael Haight, 42, was being investigated for child abuse when he shot himself and his family earlier this year.
Michael Haight, 42, was being investigated for child abuse when he shot himself and his family earlier this year.
Tausha Haighit/Facebook

The caskets of Tausha Haight and her five children, Macie Lynn, 17, Briley Ann, 12, Ammon Michael, 7, Sienna Belle, 7, and Gavin Drew, 4, rest during a graveside service on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.
The caskets of Tausha Haight and her five children, Macie Lynn, 17, Briley Ann, 12, Ammon Michael, 7, Sienna Belle, 7, and Gavin Drew, 4, rest during a graveside service on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.
AP

Caseworkers went to the Haight house in Enoch on Dec. 19, two weeks before the shootings to investigate an allegation against the family’s 7-year-old son, Ammon, whom Michael reportedly threw to the ground in a fit of rage.

Authorities had opened an investigation into the family 11 days earlier based on allegations of abuse involving the couple’s oldest daughter, according to reports.

She asked caseworkers not to interview her husband until after she filed for divorce, which she did on Dec. 21.


A photo of an Enoch, UT cop inside the Haight home.
Bodycam footage from the Enoch, Utah police showed the rooms in the house where all the Haight family bodies were found.
Enoch Police Department

Enoch Police Department Bodycam footage of the scene where Michael Haight killed his five children, wife, and mother in law.
Enoch Police Department Bodycam footage of the scene where Michael Haight killed his five children, wife, and mother-in-law.
Enoch Police Department

Police tape was seen in front of the door at the home of Michael Haight.
Police tape was seen in front of the door at the home of Michael Haight.
Getty Images

She also told authorities that her husband had threatened to take his own life or “make her life hell” if she left him, according to the reports.

Caseworkers never interviewed Michael Haight.

Previously released records showed authorities had investigated Haight for child abuse in 2020, but that police and prosecutors decided not to charge him.


Michael and Tausha Haight.
Tausha Haight wanted to divorce her husband in the weeks prior to him murdering her and their kids and turning the gun on himself.
Tausha Haighit/Facebook

Authorities had opened an investigation into the family 11 days earlier based on allegations of abuse involving the couple's oldest daughter, according to reports.
Authorities had opened an investigation into the family 11 days earlier based on allegations of abuse involving the couple’s oldest daughter, according to reports.
Tausha Haighit/Facebook

New documents detail several reports of abuse, including an incident in 2021 when Haight suddenly slammed on the brakes on the highway, the Daily Mail reported.

It scared the family and left red marks on the seat belts on their bodies. In another incident, Haight grabbed his oldest daughter’s head and threw her into the hard part of the couch.

The daughter, Macie, told caseworkers her dad would tower over her and her siblings and get close to making them feel intimidated.

‘Dad jumps to react to anything he doesn’t like,’ said Macie, the records show. ‘He yells a lot and wants to make sure they know he is right.”

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