Arizona man killed wife, two daughters, but spared the third because she 'took after him and not her mother'
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: An Arizona man who killed his wife, a family friend and two of his three daughters before ultimately sparing the youngest because she took after him and not her mother, will be spending the rest of his life in prison.
Austin Smith, 30, went on the murderous spree on the night of April 11, 2019, at a home in the 7100 Block of West Minnezona Avenue, Phoenix, after arriving home from a bar and confronting his wife Dasia Patterson, 29, according to the Arizona Republic.
He suspected she was having an affair, and though she denied it, he "shot her because he believed God told him to do so."
He then turned his attention to his middle daughter, five-year-old Nasha Smith, who he thought had "exhibited bad behavior" against God's law. He laid her on top of his wife's body and then shot the young girl in the back of the head. Afterward, he beat his eldest daughter, seven-year-old Mayan Smith, to death for crying.
After murdering his family, Smith drove to his brother's apartment near Indian School Road and 39th Avenue and made contact with a family friend, 46-year-old Ron Freeman.
He confronted Freeman and told him he believed his brother was involved in an affair with Patterson before fatally shooting him as well. He then shot and wounded two other people, a man, and a woman, who had tried to intervene and help Freeman.
Police arrested the 30-year-old a short time later as he was driving near 67th Avenue and Osborn Road, and he confessed to the killings. He also reportedly admitted that he spared his youngest daughter because she "reminded him of himself" while Nasha and Mayan reminded him of his wife.
"We are in anguish over the senseless loss of our beloved Dasia and her young children," read a family statement after the shootings. "As we try to process our profound grief, our focus is on the welfare of her sole surviving three-year-old daughter. She just lost her mother and sisters, and we want nothing more than for her to be with her family right now."
It emerged that, just five months before the killings, Smith had been referred by Phoenix police for psychiatric care and had his guns taken away after they had been called to his residence over reports that he had been yelling that people were trying to kill him. The guns were later returned.
In November, Smith took a plea deal from prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault. Earlier this week, he was sentenced to life in prison.