The findings, first reported by KSL.com, add weight to the notion that the Jan. 4 killings in the small town of Enoch were planned. Relatives said Haight, 42, had also previously taken guns from the home, leaving his wife and mother-in-law unable to defend themselves.
GABBY PETITO UPDATE: NEWLY RELEASED HIGH-RES PHOTO SHOWS INJURIES FROM UTAH DOMESTIC CALL
A Utah man Googled "Gunshot in a house" before he committed a murder-suicide five days later. His wife filed for divorcee two weeks prior to the killings.
Police believe Haight carried out the shootings, which came two weeks after his wife Tausha had filed for divorce, but have not announced motive for the shootings.
Last month, records showed that authorities had investigated Haight for child abuse in 2020 but that police and prosecutors decided not to charge him.
In an interview with authorities then, 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." However, Tausha Haight told authorities she did not want her husband to be prosecuted, hoping the investigation would be "a wake-up call" for him.
In another previously released search warrant from the shooting investigation, one of the family's daughters sent a text message to friend the day before the killings "stating her dad came home, was acting strange and she was worried."