8 dead in Utah murder-suicide after wife sought divorce

ENOCH, Utah — A Utah man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife and then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records.

Police also revealed that officers investigated the 42-year-old man and his family a “couple of years prior,” suggesting earlier problems inside the household. Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames did not elaborate.

Investigators know about the divorce petition but not if it was the motivation behind the killings, Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said.

The killings rocked the small farming town in southern Utah about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It’s in one of the fastest-growing areas of the country, and communities of new homes are made up of large families that belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The deceased were members of the faith and well known in town. Many residents served in church alongside members of the slain family or went to school with the children.

“This is a tremendous blow to many families who have spent many nights with these individuals who are now gone,” Chesnut said.

City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was “feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions.”

Officials said that they believe Michael Haight killed his wife, his mother-in-law and the couple’s five children. Each appeared to have gunshot wounds.

Court records show that Tausha Haight, 40, filed for divorce Dec. 21. Her lawyer said Thursday that Haight had been served with the papers Dec. 27. The reasons for the divorce were unknown, in part because Utah law keeps details of divorce proceedings sealed from the public.

Tausha Haight and other members of the family were seen the night before the killings at a church group for young women, Chesnut said. Police were dispatched to the family’s home Wednesday afternoon for a welfare check after someone reported that she had missed an appointment earlier in the week.

The victims were found inside the house. The children, three girls and two boys, ranged in age from 4 to 17. The other victim was Tausha Haight’s 78-year-old mother, Gail Earl.

Family mass killings have become a disturbingly common tragedy across the country. In 2022 there were 17 of them, according to a database compiled by USA Today, The Associated Press and Northeastern University. Ten were murder-suicides, and 14 were shootings.

James Park, who represented Tausha Haight in the divorce case, said she had not expressed any fear that her husband would physically hurt her. Park declined to elaborate, citing the investigation into the killings. He said he met with Tausha Haight only twice, mostly recently on Tuesday, adding she “was an incredibly nice lady.”

Archives from the local newspaper capture moments in Michael Haight’s life beginning with a picture of him laughing as a baby in an announcement marking his first birthday. He was in the Boy Scouts and went on a church mission in Brazil.

In 2003, Haight married Tausha Earl at a church temple. She was from Overton, Nevada, about two hours south of Cedar City, where he grew up. As an adult, Haight worked as an insurance agent. Tausha Haight’s Facebook page showed pictures of the family looking happy in picturesque settings of Utah, and in front of a large statue of Jesus.