Raymond Haydel: Texas man shoots dead teen daughters and kills himself days after high school graduation
MESQUITE, TEXAS: A Texas father fatally shot his two teenage daughters and then committed suicide by turning the gun on himself in what seems to be a double murder-suicide, the police have revealed.
According to officers from the Mesquite Police Department responded to a home located at 1300 Block, Bradford Place, on Tuesday, June 9, after receiving reports of gunshots. When the police reached the residence, they discovered Raymond Haydel, 63, lying dead on the floor inside his home.
Haydel had a gunshot wound to the head. While the authorities continued to look through the property, they came across the bodies of Natasha Haydel, 17, and her younger sister Alexa who is 16 years old. Both the sisters had suffered from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The authorities revealed that they were dead at the scene. Investigators believe that Haydel had shot both of his children and had then taken his own life while detectives are going to be working to establish a motive for the double murder-suicide.
The police shared that Haydel and the mother of the two girls had been separated and were no longer together. Both Natasha and Alexa used to live permanently with Chapman in Forney. They had been visiting their father in Mesquite when the shocking incident had occurred.
The Daily Mail was able to obtain legal documents which showed that Haydel and Chapman had filed for divorce in 2012. Around three years later, Chapman decided to get remarried. The father of one of the girls' boyfriends, Wes Hardin said the incident left him shocked that Haydel was capable of committing such violent acts against his own children.
While speaking to CBS DFW, Hardin said, "We know what we need to know and sometimes things happen that you don’t want to put a reason on. Of course, we are angry but we know the girls would want us to celebrate their life… the outpouring of support from the kids is amazing."
Haydel's neighbors, Darion and Lindsay Daily, spoke to Fox4 and shared how they had watched investigators process the crime scene. Darion shared, "It was blocked off, and they had it taped all off so we really couldn’t see nothing."
"It was shocking to hear what transpired," Lindsey said. Darion had also been able to speak to the first officer on the scene and had said, "He was like, 'I’m the one that had to kick the door in and see that'. And it was too late," Darion revealed.
The elder sister had recently graduated from Forney High School around 10 days before she was fatally shot by her father. The younger sibling was a sophomore at the school and both used to play in the school's band.
The Forney Independent School District released a statement on Wednesday in light of the deaths. The statement read, "Yesterday, we learned of the tragic loss of two of our Forney High School students, and our hearts are broken."
"We extend condolences to Natasha and Alexa Haydel’s family and to our Forney Family," the statement continued. A GoFundMe account has been set up by the Hardin family to help cover the funeral costs for the two girls.