Man Kills Wife And Stepchildren In Murder-Suicide Just 5 Days After Filing For Divorce

A Missouri man has killed his wife and two stepchildren in an apparent murder-suicide, just days after the couple filed for a divorce.

Police arrived at a home in St. Louis on Thursday after receiving reports of gunshots. The officers found a woman and two children, later identified as 34-year-old Roseann McCulley and her children 13-year-old Kayden Johnson and 6-year-old Kaylee Brooks, with gunshot wounds and pronounced them dead at the scene.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Roseann's estranged husband, identified as 35-year-old Bobby McCulley, had shot them before fleeing the scene with their infant daughter. The authorities soon issued Amber Alert for the child, who was later found safe in the home of Bobby's relative, reported the New York Post.

Officers found Bobby in a car the next morning. He was wearing body armor. However, as the officers closed in, the man shot himself. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigation revealed that Roseann and Bobby got married in 2018 and had filed for divorce five days prior to the incident. Bobby was seeking joint custody of their infant daughter, Zoe.

Lt. Col. Steve Sack of the St. Louis County Police Department told St. Louis Post Dispatch that in February, Roseann had filed a domestic abuse complaint against Bobby. According to the officer, they were investigating the abuse case but did not have a clue that Bobby was planning to go back to the home.

Meanwhile, Bobby’s mother, 55-year-old Michelle Clayton, was taken into custody on Friday evening for lying and misleading the officer when they were trying to arrest her son. She was charged with hindering the prosecution of a felony and was being held in jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.

In light of the incident, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell asked victims of domestic abuse to seek help. "It's on all of us for those individuals to get the help they need. It cannot just be a victim-oriented solution. We all have to be in this fight against this type of violence," he said.