Mom’s murder-suicide
Gun-hater shoots kids & self
A Texas mother who denounced guns on Facebook shot her three kids to death and killed herself a week after her bitter divorce was finalized, according to authorities and a new report.
Ashley Auzenne, 39, was discovered dead Tuesday along with her children, Parrish, 11, Eleanor, 9, and Lincoln, 7, in their Deer Park home when a relative asked police to check on them, according to local station KTRK-TV.
Police also found a gun inside the home.
The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the deaths a murdersuicide on Thursday, with Ashley Auzenne as the suspect, authorities said.
Court records obtained by the station indicate that Ashley and Murvin Auzenne Jr. had just finalized their divorce last week.
Auzenne Jr. told The Houston Chronicle Wednesday his estranged wife was “very upset” with the result. She feared that she wouldn’t be able to move with the kids to her hometown, and would need to find a job and pay him rent if she stayed in their home, he said.
Still, he was stunned that she could be capable of murder.
“Ashley tried her best to be a good mother,” Auzenne Jr. said. “She and I had our issues, we argued and fought just like any other couple headed for divorce, but I never had any reason to believe she was capable of this. Nobody did.”
Last November, Auzenne framed her Facebook profile picture with an “End Gun Violence” banner.
On Halloween 2018, she posted about her battle with lupus, sleep apnea, arthritis, depression and anxiety.
Back in July, Auzenne posted a Facebook photo of all three children smiling as they sat near a lake.
“They were kids you wanted to have around, they really were,” the children’s paternal grandfather, Murvin Auzenne Sr., told ABC-13.
“The family has all rallied around my son, Murvin,” he added. “Our focus is only on one thing: helping him through this difficult time.”
Chris Pierce, whose children attended the local Deer Park Elementary School with the Auzenne clan, said, “It’s just amazing how it affects everybody, whether they go to school with them or not.”