Final police report of Enoch murder-suicide reveals a husband’s violent spiral, and a family ready for divorce
Enoch city officials on Friday released the completed investigation into the Jan. 4 murder-suicide where Michael Haight, 42, shot and killed his entire family before turning the gun on himself.
The 57-page report includes interviews with friends, family, colleagues and neighbors of the Haights, and cements what has already been widely reported — that Michael Haight was obsessed with his image, had a manipulative, controlling, and violent relationship with his family, and in his final weeks spiraled out of control after being served with divorce papers and losing his job.
And that his estranged wife, 40-year-old Tausha Haight, was relieved after filing for divorce, but worried about how her husband might react.
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah’s confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
Utah’s statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
Police also released body-worn camera footage from four officers who responded that day and discovered the bodies of Michael and Tausha Haight, their five children — Macie, 17; Briley, 12; 7-year-old twins Ammon and Sienna; and Gavin, 4 — and Gail Earl, Tausha’s mother, all deceased.
Officers responded to the house after neighbors had entered the home, saw a body on the bed with blood, and called police.
Most of the family, the footage shows, were killed in their beds. And according to the report, a neighbor told police days after the shooting that they heard what sounded like fireworks at about 3:30 a.m. on Jan 4. Police, in the report, describe a cadence similar to gunshots.
Officers then found Michael Haight deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a small home gym in the basement. In the report, officers say he had tissue paper in his ears to muffle the sound of gunshots. He also left a note where he takes no responsibility for the murders, and instead blames his family.
A timeline leading up to Jan. 4
The report paints the most detailed picture of the events leading up to the murders to date.
On Dec. 8, 2022 the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, or DCFS, receives a report from 17-year-old Macie Haight detailing prior allegations of abuse.
On Dec. 12, 12-year-old Briley texts a friend complaining about her dad’s behavior, telling the friend that she needs to have someone to make sure she is safe.
On Dec. 19, a DCFS caseworker visits the Haight home, where Tausha details a more recent instance of abuse, in which her husband allegedly threw 7-year-old Ammon to the floor. The caseworker, in the Enoch report, told police he intended to follow up with Tausha Haight on Jan. 5, the day after the murders.
On Dec. 21, Tausha and her attorney draw up divorce papers.
On Dec. 22, Michael tells a friend that he left his job as an insurance agent at Allstate. According to Michael, he was “terminated with cause” for a policy violation — something that would make it very difficult for him to get a job elsewhere — and he would not be receiving his Christmas bonus.
On Dec. 27, Michael is served with divorce papers at his Allstate Insurance office.
On Dec. 30, Michael does an internet search for a series of disturbing questions. They include: “What does a gunshot sound like?” “If you hear a single gunshot in your neighborhood at night would you immediately recognize it a such? Would you either way be alerted enough to call the police, or would you chalk it up to being just another sound in the night?” and “Would a neighbor hear a gunshot in a garage?”
On Dec. 31, 17-year-old Macie tells a dance chaperone that her “dad is being a jerk again.”
“My mom finally filed for divorce and I couldn’t be more excited. He needs to go,” she said, according to police.
On Jan. 2, 2023, Tausha tells her attorney that Michael removed several firearms from the house, including a handgun that Tausha kept in her nightstand.
On Jan. 3, Michael “uncharacteristically” leaves his secretary’s paycheck on her desk, and his living trust paperwork on his desk. He also records a video on his phone of himself asking Tausha to work things out. “I feel like you are backing me into a corner,” he tells her, according to police. He also messages her, asking to talk, and she does not respond. Michael also receives a text from a friend asking if he needs anything. “I’ve got my hands full right now,” he replies.
On Jan 4, at about 3:30 a.m., a neighbor hears what they think are fireworks, but police in the report suggest they are likely gunshots. A welfare check is requested on Michael Haight by someone who tells police that he has been acting strange for a couple weeks. Police fail to make entry to the home, and are unable to contact the Haight family. Neighbors then enter the home and discover the bodies.
Strange behavior leading up to the murders
Tausha wanted to wait to serve Michael with the divorce papers until after Christmas. When he was served on Dec. 27, the report describes a strange reaction from Michael. “He asked her how her day was going. He acted as if nothing had happened,” the report reads.
After he acknowledged that he got the divorce papers, “he told her that she needed to be out of the house when he got home. He also told her that she was to leave the kids there,” police said in the report, after interviewing two of Tausha’s friends.
Tausha had already arranged to have the kids out of the house and at a neighbor’s home because “she feared for their safety,” the friends told police. And after the odd call with Michael, she took the kids to her mother’s home in La Verkin for the weekend.
That’s when Michael showed up, unannounced, “trying to get Tausha to leave with him and ‘go for a drive,’” the report states. “Tausha told (her friends) that she had a terrible feeling and felt like she shouldn’t go anywhere alone with him. She ended up shutting the door in his face and telling him to leave.”
The family came home that Saturday night, and at church the next day, Tausha would not let Michael sit with the family.
“According to the ladies, the suspect was angry because his public image was going to be questioned because he was not sitting with his family,” the documents state.
In the weeks leading up to the murders, Macie had also been apparently filming her father on a “secret phone” hidden in her room, police said after an interview with the 17-year-old’s friend.
“Macie told (redacted) that she was doing this to use as evidence for her parents divorce,” the report reads. However, Macie told the friend that just before Christmas that Tausha found the phone and took it away.
Police say the phone was never located during the investigation.
