Sheriff: Mom shot family minutes before deputies arrived to evict them from foreclosed Ohio Township home

Investigators believe Theresa Cain shot her family members, killing three of them, just minutes before deputies arrived to serve them with eviction papers as they were removed from their foreclosed home, Sheriff Steve Leahy said Thursday.

The eviction was the culmination of a long history of financial problems for the family that appears to be the motive of the murder-suicide that left a total of four relatives dead and a fifth fighting for her life, he said.

“It is tragic and unnecessary,” Leahy said. “What can we do to keep this from happening again? Well, I’m just not that sure that we can. When people are in crisis, it’s not as easy as just reaching out and saying, ‘I need help.’ They are spiraling. Nothing makes sense.

“What we see here, you can’t make sense of this. Murder is a senseless thing but then you throw in suicide and the homicide of your family. It’s all very sad. This lady had been totally cooperative the entire time.”

When deputies pulled up to the family home on Riebel Ridge Road in Ohio Township around 9:40 a.m. Monday, Theresa Cain was standing on the patio outside, Leahy said.

Deputies expected no issues. They checked with her before Monday to ensure all would go smoothly. She had been cooperative. She indicated she still had a few things to pack.

She requested and received a few extra hours but agreed the family would be ready to vacate the premises by 10 a.m. Monday. Theresa Cain had assured the sheriff’s office the family had a place to go.

But as soon as she saw them pulling up, she quickly went inside the house, the sheriff said.

A deputy knocked on the front and then back doors. No one answered. The deputy stepped inside the home and called out to her, announcing the sheriff’s office had arrived.

He heard a muffled “No, no, no, no,” Leahy said, followed by a “very fast” succession of gunfire.

She fired five gunshots in just under 3.5 seconds, ones they now believe were meant to keep deputies away - and then turned the gun on herself, he said.

When deputies were able to safely venture further into the home, they found her dead upstairs along with her 13-year-old son, Ethan Cain and her 74-year-old father William Felton, who lived with them.

Her daughter, Samantha Cain, 20, was critically hurt and remains in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Deputies found Theresa Cain’s husband, Steven Cain, 50, on a downstairs couch.

The sheriff said their investigation determined she gunned her husband down first.

All the victims were awake when they were killed, likely aware of what was happening and shot just minutes before deputies arrived, Leahy said.

Nothing in the house was packed, leading deputies to believe Theresa Cain hid the eviction from her family right up until the end, Leahy said.

“You would think,” he said, “there would be resources for someone like them but I think she kept this a very close secret. Hopefully, Samantha recovers and can help fill in some blanks.”

A relative indicated Thursday she is in a coma but doctors have given her a good chance of surviving.

Detectives recovered a. 38-caliber revolver they believe Theresa Cain used to kill her husband first. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now tracing the weapon to see who owned it, the sheriff said.

Freedom Mortgage Corporation of Indiana foreclosed on the family’s home in May 2022.

They lived on the 3-acre property since moving there from Connecticut nearly eight years ago, according to court filings and the sheriff.

Steven and Theresa Cain purchased the two-story, three-bedroom home built in 1990 for $212,000 in July 2015, auditor records show.

The mortgage company bought it back at a sheriff’s sale late last year and then hired a crew to remove the family’s belongings from the property Monday. Deputies routinely assist at these scenes to keep the peace and make sure all goes smoothly, according to the sheriff’s office.

Leahy said he brought counselors in for his staff this week to help them cope. The crime scene inside the home was gruesome and disturbing.

The tragedy also has the New Richmond School District hard. Ethan was a student at the middle school and Samantha was a graduate of the high school.

Both Cain children attended New Richmond schools.

Samantha Cain graduated from New Richmond High School.

Ethan Cain was a student at New Richmond Middle School.

Counselors have been at the schools all week.

Superintendent Tracey Miller said Ethan was a “little bit quiet but a nice, polite young man. He was very conscientious.

“There was no shortage of Ethan stories. You just talk and remember some of the better times, and the importance of taking care of your loved ones.”

Samantha’s sorority sisters at Northern Kentucky University established a Go Fund Me account to help pay for her medical care.

“Samantha currently remains in critical condition in the hospital and we would like to try and raise money for any expenses that she might face when she wakes up,” one of the Go Fund Me organizers, Kalie Clark, wrote on the page.

So far, more than $21,000 has been raised toward the $25,000 goal.

Steven Cain was known as the lead singer of a local band, “Critical Khaos, which plays groove/thrash metal music, according to the band’s website.

The band has urged people to donate to Samantha Cain’s Go Fund Me account and one that Steven Cain’s brother-in-law established to pay expenses to bury him and Ethan in Georgia, where Steven Cain and his sister Wanda Garrison grew up. Ethan also was born there.

Enquirer media partner Fox19 provided this report.

Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or 800-273-8255 any time day or night, or chat online at https://988lifeline.org/chat/.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sheriff: Theresa Cain shot family before eviction from foreclosed home