California woman screams 'please hurry' to 911 as husband stabs twin daughters to death before killing self
PLACENTIA, CALIFORNIA: A harrowing 911 audio footage has revealed how a distraught mother screamed when her husband stabbed their nine-year-old twin daughters to death before ending his own life in an apparent murder-suicide.
The father, 41-year-old Timothy Takehara, left the local community of Placentia, California, shaken after allegedly killing his little girls and committing suicide on Wednesday, October 7, The Sun reported.
His wife, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is heard in the disturbing audio telling authorities to "hurry" as her husband allegedly attacked their kids late at night. "My husband just stabbed my children," she said in the 911 call audio released by Placentia Police Department. The dispatcher then asks what they had been stabbed with. "I don't know ... a sharp object, please hurry, I have two [children] I have twin girls," the mother responded.
According to The Sun, the 911 call was made at 12.38 am on Wednesday, October 7. Officers arrived at the address on the 400 block of Swanson Avenue within minutes and discovered Takehara lying on the grass in the front porch "bleeding profusely".
"Additional arriving officers located two female children, nine years of age, bleeding inside a residence," police said in a statement. "There were two additional adult females located inside of the residence who were unharmed. These two adult females were identified as the mother and grandmother of the children."
Takehara and his children were tragically pronounced dead by fire and safety personnel at the scene. According to police, no arrests have been made in connection with the incident, and the mother and grandmother are not injured.
Speaking to The Sun, neighbor John Grbavac said he was "shocked" by the tragic deaths. "Nothing like this happens in Placentia. It's called a bedroom community. It's a nickname. I'm sure this is the worst in Placentia's history," Grbavac, who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife Teri for nearly a decade, told the outlet. "There have been issues in the past where cops have been there, so there was something leading up [to this]. I'm sure there's something underlying. I've seen the police at least once, but neighbors have said they've also been before and a SWAT team was here."
Meanwhile, neighbor Billy Vayda recalled seeing police at the same house last year. Authorities later confirmed they had responded to the same address in September following reports of a "verbal argument between adult residents" but said nobody was harmed and there had been no arrests.
"I heard the sirens and saw them come in here [in the community], they were coming from this direction and that direction," Vayda recalled, adding that the place was quiet for days afterwards. "Last night my daughter said the police were here and I thought, 'Oh not again'," he said. "I went back to bed, when I got up there was a crime scene, I thought, 'Oh sh*t' and was told it was a murder-suicide. It's unbelievable."
"I would see the little kids, one would be on a scooter, one would be walking a dog, they'd be running down the street to the tree," Vayda continued. "Why would anyone want to hurt children? Why would you do that? It makes no sense and baffles me. There needs to be more of a focus on mental health here. It's very sad. This shouldn't have happened at all."
The community held a candlelight vigil at a local park on Wednesday evening, with officers attending the event to pay tribute to the family. "On behalf of the men and women of the Placentia Police Department, we are truly heartbroken by the tragic events that occurred last night," Placentia Police Department Chief Darin Lenyi said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their family and we will continue to investigate to try and make sense of this horrific crime."