What began as a simple welfare check turned into a nightmare when police officers arrived at an Indiana home to find a husband, wife and their three children dead. Upon their investigation, they discovered the killer was among the deceased but family members revealed the disturbing motive behind the killing.
Lake Station police responded to a home on the 6700 block of 9th Avenue the afternoon of Feb. 21. Authorities say they received a request for a welfare check. Upon arrival, they obtained a search warrant for the home. Inside, officers discovered a disturbing sight.
Briana Payne, 27, along with her children, 7-year-old Aurorah, 6-year-old Ava and 4-year-old Alayna were found dead. A fifth person, 31-year-old Robert Payne was also found dead. The Lake County Coroner ruled their deaths as homicides by means of gunshots wounds. However, Mr. Payne’s death was the only one ruled as a suicide, per authorities.
The neighborhood was left shaken at the news that the seemingly perfect family was gone in an instant. However, neighbor Sandy Goodman tells WSAZ she knew something was off.
“They were arguing a lot for the last few days,” Goodman told reporters. “I knew there was something weird because the cars weren’t moved, and they go [out] every day.”
Briana’s family had their own theories as to what happened. Her mother, Lili Owens, tells ABC 7 Chicago there were concerns surrounding the state of her daughter’s marriage. For instance, one of Briana’s employers said she parted ways with the woman because of her husband’s red flags and claimed he wanted to isolate her, per the report. Owens also told reporters Briana told her husband she planned on filing for a divorce just weeks before the incident.
Based on this information, the family’s death was suspected to be a murder-suicide by the hands of Mr. Payne. Now, Briana’s family and the peers of her young daughters are left grieving the bright light they once were in their lives.
“Losing Briana and her daughters feels like losing a piece of our hearts. There’s an emptiness now in our community where their light and energy used to be. It’s hard to imagine moving forward without them. They deserved so much more time, so many more days to laugh and grow,” the family wrote via GoFundMe.