Investigators said a Michigan mother who shot and killed her three young daughters in a wooded area before taking her own life carried out the grisly murder-suicide after pulling the two girls out of school by fraudulently claiming they had a doctor’s appointment.
Kent County Sheriff’s Office detectives told WXMI that Aubrianne Moore, 28, picked Cassidy Rodery, 6, and Kyrie Rodery, 8, up from school midday last Monday, claiming they had a doctor’s appointment which they’ve since determined was fake. Moore reportedly took her daughters (including 2-year-old Alaina Rau) to lunch before fatally shooting them with her boyfriend’s legal bolt-action hunting-style rifle behind her grandparents’ home.
WOOD-TV previously reported that Moore drove with her three slain daughters’ bodies to her boyfriend’s home a block away, where she exited her vehicle and fatally shot herself not far away. Moore’s boyfriend found the three girls’ bodies inside the car an hour later, according to WXMI.
Last week’s apparent triple murder-suicide came months after a social worker expressed concern for the family.
“I believe the individual has mental illness and as a result of that mental illness the individual can reasonably be expected within the near future to intentionally or unintentionally seriously physically injure self or others and has engaged in an act or acts or made significant threats that are substantially supportive of this expectation,” a social worker wrote in September’s petition obtained by WOOD-TV.
“Aubrianne is keeping her kids home from school because the television told her there would be a school bus accident today. Aubrianne stays awake at night believing people will break into her home. Aubrianne is not eating believing food is being poisoned.”
Moore had reportedly spent a week at a mental health center in September, amid concerns for her mental health. At the time, a doctor had diagnosed her with schizophrenia and recommended treatment up to 90 days at a mental health facility. The doctor also determined she was experiencing severe hallucinations and paranoia, was a danger to herself, and was unable to fulfill basic needs, according to the petition.
Despite the petition, the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office recently told WOOD that Children’s Protective Services never had contact with Moore or her three kids. Moreover, school district officials said they believe she had sole custody and that there weren’t any court orders restricting her parental rights.
Offering a possible motive, authorities told WXMI that Moore’s posts to social media the week of the murders suggested she believed her daughters were in danger. Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young revealed that Moore didn’t leave a suicide note but investigators located writings which indicated that she wanted to protect her children from some sort of entity.
“She believes she was protecting the kids from something and most of her writings really followed kind of in that line,” LaJoye-Young told WOOD.
“I don’t know what else to say. There’s no good answer here.”
[Featured Image: Alaina Rau, Kyrie Rodery, Cassidy Rodery/Facebook]
