My father committed a murder suicide

I lived in an abusive home until I was 15. I took the initiative to file an EPO against my father in 2006 to get him out of the house because I just couldn't live with it anymore. Things progressively got worse only between me and him because I was the only one standing up to him and he just didnt like that. My father was diagnosed as a sociopath and he definitely showed it. The things I, and my siblings and mother, went through were very brutal and to the extreme. After he left, he fought in the court to get visitation rights and they thought the abuse was something under control now, which I always knew wasn't true. He ended up getting those rights but I never went for any of them. My sister and two younger brothers would go spend the weekends with him every week. Everyone thought I was being over-dramatic with my reactions to everything and I made it clear that if I hadn't of done what I did, we all would have died. No one believed me until December of 2009, when my mother got a phone call that he had committed a murder suicide during one of his weekend visits. He killed my 13 year old disabled sister. From the reports of her autopsy, she died from asphyxia (suffocation) and he died from carbon monoxide poisoning. They were both laying on a mattress in the garage with his arm wrapped around her. She had a hand print on the back of her neck, she was face down in the mattress when they were found, and only one side of her cheek was red. It was obvious that he suffocated her into the mattress. As for him, he left his truck running with the garage door closed and his whole body was red. When you die from carbon monoxide poisoning, it causes all of your bloody vessels to pop in result turning you red. He also bled out through his nose and ears. Coming from his reports, its possible he took some pills before hand, possibly my sisters medication that isn't meant for a person that does not have the problems her body had. Dealing with the trauma of the abuse I endured as a child was hard enough to bare and I did what I did so that this would never happen. I just wanted my siblings, my mother and myself to be safe and to live a life without any abuse and to not live in fear anymore. But the fate for someone in my life was way out of my hands. I did what I could but it just wasn't enough. Trying to cope with my sisters death has been harder than anything i've endured myself and I just don't know how to deal with this lying on my shoulders any longer. I can't seem to get the right support or understanding from the people around me. Usually their only response is "man that sucks" or "thats really heavy" and i need alot more support than that. I can't afford a therapist either so i am lost as to what to do to get through this. Hopefully someone can offer some advice or support that i am looking for. thanks for reading, Jenny.

Jenny

I am extremely sorry for everything that lead you here. Losing your sister after all you went through must be crushing.

I have not lost anyone to murder and even though I imagine the shock and suddenness is similar to losing my son I can't possibly know the depth of your pain.

The souls here are so caring and I hope you will feel supported and find some comfort here. Many areas have counseling available on a sliding scale and I have seen free counseling through Catholic Charities in some locations. Finding a support group for loss through murder, suicide or myrder/suicide would be another free option that would be worth a search. Counseling is expensive but there are options.

I hope you will tell us about your sister sometime.
V--

Jenny,

I'm so sorry that your father is gone, and that he killed your sister.

A murder-suicide has to be so difficult to deal with on several levels, especially when the person who did it was your own father.

It sounds as if your father was a very troubled man all his life, and as if your family suffered greatly because of his problems. How do you feel about him?

And can you tell us more about your sister?

I am so very sorry that you have so much and then a murder-suicide of your loved ones as well is just plain tragic and difficult to learn to live with. I too am a murder-suicide survivor-my 22yr old son killed his estranged girlfriend before taking his own life. There is an online support group a private one just for m/s survivors-facebook me tawna righter and I will connect you. It is a private facebook group that is growing. Unfortunately really, but glad survivors are finding us at www.caascenter.org where you'll find informative info about homicide-suicides and surviving them. best wishes hope this helps. I'm available any time too if you want to email me at [email protected]

Jenny, I am so sorry you are going through this nightmare....so devastating...my heart reaches out to you. You did everything you could to help your family, and some things are just out of our control...and so hard for us to accept this at times. We are all here for you dear one,

Jenny,

I'm so so sorry you're going through this. My dad murdered my brother before he killed himself...he was also mentally ill, he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. I was younger than you when it happened - I was eight years old. But I knew I couldn't trust him even at that age. When it happened my mom was in a rehab for alcoholism and she'd given my brothers and I the choice to either live with our father while she was away, or with her friend. My brothers chose our father, I chose my mom's friend because by then I'd learned to hate and mistrust my dad.

It's been 24 years since my dad murdered my brother and killed himself, I've learned to forgive and have healed a lot with time, but it's certainly never something you get "past." And I know what you mean when you say no one understands...but I do. Please contact me if you ever want to talk, I'll try to privately message you my email address.

You're in my thoughts,
Jessica

Hi, Jenny, if you're still reading on this site, would you let us know how you're doing?

My hope is that you and Jessica have connected by private messaging - it seems
she might be a really good person for you to lean on right now.

I'm also very, very sorry for what you and your family have endured. We learn
that life isn't fair, but my hope for you is a wonderful future - to be able to
make for yourself the kind of life you should have always had.

Best regards to you, Dear,

s.

I've not heard from Jenny outside of her original post, but I would very much like to speak to her - to support, identify, help if I can.