Utah Man Who Killed His Entire Family Was Investigated for Child Abuse 2 Years Ago

The Utah man who police say shot and killed his entire family, including his five children, was investigated for allegations of child abuse and coercive control behavior towards his wife two years ago.

On Jan. 4, police say Michael Haight shot and killed his wife, his mother-in-law, and his five children—three daughters and two sons aged between 4 and 17—before taking his own life inside their Enoch City home. Two weeks earlier his wife, Tausha Haight, had filed for divorce.

In the days after the horrific shooting, police indicated that they were “familiar with the family” but did not reveal any details about those interactions.

But on Tuesday, in response to freedom of information requests from multiple local media outlets, the police provided documents related to an investigation that took place in August 2020.

The police responded to a report from the Department of Child and Family Services about allegations of physical abuse made against Haight by his eldest daughter Macie, who also alleged that Haight was emotionally abusive towards his wife.

Macie, who was 14 or 15 at the time, reported three specific incidents spanning a three-year period where she alleged her father was physically abusive towards her in the family home.

The first incident occurred in 2017, when Haight “became angry at her and grabbed her by the shoulders. He shook her and her head banged into the wooden piece along the back of the couch,” the report reads. “She stated that she was terrified that he was going to hurt her. She stated that she did not suffer any injury from this event. She was mostly scared.”

A year later Haight grabbed Macie “around the neck and choked her” while they were in the pantry area of the family’s kitchen, the report says.

The final incident took place just weeks before Macie contacted the authorities when Haight once again “became angry and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.”

When police questioned Haight about these allegations, he initially denied he had assaulted his daughter, saying he simply “loses his temper and yells at the kids.”

However Haight later told police that Macie was “mouthy and he gets angry with her” adding “if he had indeed done these things it was not meant to be an assault.”

As well as the allegations that he was abusive towards her, Macie told police Haight was emotionally abusive towards her mother.

She told police that her father would speak about “how stupid and lazy Tausha is.” Haight would also take Tausha’s phone, Macie said, in an attempt to “keep her from leaving the house.” 

In an interview with police, Haight denied belittling his wife, but admitted taking Tausha’s iPad with him to work for several days “to look at her texts and messages.” When Tausha confronted him about taking her iPad, Haight said he denied it and days later “slipped it back where it would be found at the house.”

Tausha Haight told police officers that she did not want to bring criminal charges against her husband, telling them she “hope[d] this case will be a  wake-up call for Michael.”

In a supplemental report, one of the police officers involved in the investigation wrote that he “advised Michael that his behavior was very close to assaultive.” 

“I advised him that I did not intend to charge him with any crime at this time. I talked to him about the importance of Macie continuing to speak with a therapist,” the officer wrote. “I asked him to not interfere with that. I also advised him that he should continue seeing someone about his anger. I advised him that I would much rather be having this conversation with him instead of taking him to jail.”

The police were initially informed about the allegations by the Department of Child and Family Services and conducted separate interviews with Michael Haight, Tausha Haight, and Macie Haight. Macie was interviewed by individuals with specialized training related to child abuse, Rob Dotson, the Enoch City manager, said in an emailed statement to VICE News.

After the investigation was completed, the police passed all information to the Iron County Attorney’s office who reviewed the details of the investigation. “After this review, it was determined that this case did not meet all the elements required by statute for prosecution,” Dotson said, adding that “a lethality assessment was completed with Tausha Haight. Her responses to the lethality assessment did not indicate a lethal relationship. However, victim services were made available to Tausha and her family for several months.”

Dotson said that no more information about the shootings on Jan. 4 will be shared until the police investigation is completed.

The funeral of the five Haight children, Tausha Haight and her mother, Gail Earl, took place last Friday in the close-knit Enoch community of 8,000 people. On the same day the family of Michael Haight posted an obituary in the local newspaper that caused outrage and backlash due to its praise of the 42-year-old and its failure to mention that he allegedly killed his children, wife, and mother-in-law.

The obituary, which has since been taken offline, said that Michael Haight “made it a point to spend quality time with each and every one of his children,” who were a “cherished miracle” to him and his wife. The obituary spoke about his devotion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and how he “excelled at everything he did.”

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