Texas mom Ashley Auzenne shot dead three children before killing herself as she was 'upset' over terms of divorce
HOUSTON, TEXAS: The deaths of Ashley Auzenne, 39, and her three children have been ruled a murder-suicide.
The recently-divorced mother who shot dead her children—11-year-old Parrish, 9-year-old Eleanor, and 7-year-old Lincoln—was a vocal anti-gun activist and had battled depression, anxiety, arthritis, and lupus.
The bodies of the mother and three children were found by police in their Deer Park home, 20 miles east of Houston, last Tuesday, October 29, after a relative requested the police to carry out a wellness check at the home.
Ashley's divorce from ex-husband Murvin Auzenne Jr. was finalized the week before.
He said she was "very upset" about it. It was revealed later that the mother was also battling depression and anxiety in addition to physical ailments including arthritis and lupus.
Auzenne Jr. had said his ex-wife tried her best to be a good mother adding that, though they had issues like any other couple headed for divorce, he never had any reason to "believe she was capable of this."
Ashley, who had posted on social media about potentially losing her health insurance, was reportedly upset with the terms of the divorce, specifically the one that said she could not move with her children to her hometown.
Further terms specified that, if she stayed in the home she shared with her ex-husband, she would have to pay rent which meant she would have to get a job,
In a phone interview with ABC13, Murvin Auzenne Sr., the paternal grandfather of the children, said that he was devastated. He said, "They were kids you wanted to have around, they really were. They played well, they talked to the adults. They're amazing children in all kinds of fantastic ways."
"The family has all rallied around my son, Murvin," said the elder Auzenne. "Our focus is only on one thing: helping through this difficult time."
Ashley would regularly post pictures of her three children to social media. In July, she changed her cover photo to show the three children smiling on a day out. In December last year, she changed her profile picture, calling for an end to gun violence.
Parents of children of the Deer Park Elementary School, which two of the Auzenne children attended, were upset. One of the parents, Chris Pierce, described the children as smart and loving to ABC13 and said that the shooting probably affected the kids at the school more than they realize.