On Jan. 3, Michael Haight told his kids he loved them, that the next day they could all go sledding, and went over some details about his impending divorce from wife, Tausha Haight.
The next morning, Haight shot and killed his entire family before turning the gun on himself. Newly released video footage, obtained by Deseret News via a public records request on Monday, provides a window into the Haights’ home and Michael’s controlling and manipulative behavior just hours before the murder-suicide.
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The Utah Coalition Against Domestic Violence was reviewing the videos on Monday and could not comment at the time of publication. Public and private officials are trying to determine what, if anything, could have been done to prevent the tragedy that occurred.
For those unfamiliar with the context around the Haights, the videos may seem relatively benign, with a few exceptions – Tausha Haight refers to several years of emotional abuse and tells her ex-husband that his presence in the house puts the whole world on edge. It is unclear why Michael Haight recorded the videos. In at least one, he tells Tausha he’s recording. Others seem to be filmed in secret, with his phone on his lap or in a pocket.
At one point, she recalls a conversation with Michael over Thanksgiving, where he wouldn’t let her take a separate car to a family event — even though she didn’t feel safe with him.
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“Those are deciding factors for me,” Tausha tells him. “You haven’t shown me that I’m safe with you, whether you choose my safety or my concerns. You show that you don’t even care.
Michael, who sometimes seems oblivious to the fact that Tausha has already filed for divorce, begs her not to make things controversial and says he’s been trying to work on her sanity and their relationship.
But during the nearly 72 minutes of video the Deseret News reviewed on Monday, Haight doesn’t look like a violent person. This despite the fact that he already searches the internet for things like “Would a neighbor hear a gunshot in a garage?” and “If you heard a single gunshot in your neighborhood at night, would you immediately recognize it as such?” according to the police.
Instead, he is sometimes in tears in an attempt to elicit sympathy from Tausha, an example of the emotional manipulation that Tausha herself has pointed out, both in the videos and in other accounts obtained by the Deseret News. .
“I know you have no reason to give me a chance or trust me with anything. I know. I’m telling you I’m in a corner,” Haight said, appearing to cry. “…I beg , I’m trying to take care of my family. And I know, I hurt your feelings and I feel horrible. I’ll go to 20 counselors if I have to go to 20 counselors, I don’t care. I want my family. I want that more than anything.”
“I don’t have time to take care of myself,” Michael later says, telling Tausha the divorce is impacting his “hopes and dreams for when I’m done with Allstate” where he used to work. .
Police say Haight then shot and killed her five children – Gavin, 4, twins Sienna and Ammon, 7, Brilee, 12, and Macie, 17 – as well as 40. old Tausha and her mother, Gail Earl, 78. Haight then turned the gun on himself. In the final police report, a neighbor says he heard what sounded like fireworks, but at the rate of gunfire, around 3:30 a.m.
Two weeks before the shooting, Michael Haight was served divorce papers at his Allstate insurance office. And records obtained by the Deseret News show years of emotional and physical abuse, documented by Enoch police and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
In much of the content, Earl is in the room with them. Police said she was living with the family to help with the divorce. Several videos appear to have been taken in the morning, when the children are presumably getting ready for school. Others are taken at night, with Tausha stopping for one to put her youngest, Gavin, to bed.
The Haights’ busy family life is apparent, with some conversations inaudible due to children screaming in the background. During one video, Gavin bursts in and Michael Haight says, “I think he needs some tickling!” Gavin can then be heard laughing hysterically. In another, Haight tells one of his children that they are going sledding tomorrow.
But the majority of the recordings capture conversations between the Haights about the details of the divorce. Michael does the majority of the talking and particularly focuses on how much he will have to pay in child support.
“I feel like you’re pushing me into a corner, you want the best of both worlds. … I feel a lot of pressure here, I feel like I just left a company because I felt too much pressure I wanted more time with my family and then I’m caught off guard with the timing of this It’s almost like we’re doing this now so your rights are protected, or you can try to get as much child support as you can,” Haight told his wife.
“I’m doing this because I can’t continue to tolerate the way you treat me,” she replies.
Several times during the videos, Michael Haight accuses Tausha of turning the kids against him, and that she’s the reason they have a bad relationship.
“Right now, I’m the bad guy for them. And I have been for 2 months. Since you came back from the girls weekend, ”he said.
Police reports show Michael Haight had a history of abusive behavior towards his children, including a case where he smothered his eldest daughter, Macie.
Other parts of the conversation reveal how much control Michael Haight had over the family’s finances.
“I’ve seen what your Allstate payments are and yet we continue to live way below our means,” Tausha says, as Michael interrupts her briefly, “…I had a budget of $100 per person for Christmas and you put me down and berate me and assume I’m not on budget.
Tausha Haight also makes several references alluding to Michael’s recent refusal to leave the house when asked, which matches police interviews that suggest he was obsessed with his image.
“I would like you to move on your own,” she told him. “But you’re not moving. And now you… are taking me down the legal route.
“I don’t want anything else to be broken,” he later told her.
The videos are another example of what hundreds of pages of tapes and witness statements, and hours of interviews conducted by the Deseret News, already show – that Michael Haight’s family was ready for divorce.
“Our kids have mentioned, especially our two eldest, that when you’re here it’s more tense. We can’t relax. We are still walking on eggshells,” Tausha told him.
Later, she said, “I don’t have a voice, Mike. I have no voice. I will have freedom now. I will have financial freedom where I am not controlled.