Officials in Utah have recently released shocking footage that shows disturbing conversations Michael Haight had with his family before he shot his wife, their five children, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself.
On January 3 of this year, Haight reportedly told his children he loved them, that they would all go sledding as a family the next day, and discussed details of his impending divorce with his wife Tausha.
However, by the next morning, the whole family was dead after Haight murdered them before taking his own life.
Newly released video footage obtained by the Deseret News gives some insight into Haight's controlling and manipulative behavior just hours before the horrific crime.
The 42-year-old Mormon insurance agent - who quit his job at Allstate Insurance days before the killings, per Fox News - had recorded himself playing with his children and having a conversation with Tausha about their rocky marriage at their home in Enoch, Utah.
"We might go sledding again. We won't do that today, but we can go to the mountains, maybe tomorrow or the next day," he told his children, aged 17, 12, seven, seven, and four, on January 3.
In other clips from the same night, Haight was talking to his wife about child support payments and her desire for him to move out of the family home. "I am not safe with you," she tells him at one point.
"It makes it look like you're, you're abandoning your family and so that can be an argument used against a parent that leaves," Haight tells his wife. She states that he needed to enlist the help of a lawyer so that the family was able to move on from the marriage, and that she was willing to resort to legal avenues to force him to move out of the family home.
"I'm a little curious why you're so wanting me so aggressively to just move out of here too you know, and not let the system play out and why you're feeling like you have to get some motion to remove me from here," Haight tells his wife.
"We're not able to, to relax, we're still walking around on eggshells. I don't know if you're going to be good cop, bad cop. I don't know if you're going to be mean or angry or frustrated or get in my face or threatening to me or if you're going to be nice and amicable," Tausha tells him.
Haight then gets incredibly emotional, crying at one point and saying: "I know that I'm the cause, I know, I have things to work on. I know it. I know I have so many good traits, too. And I know if I can work on these. I'm just I'm pleading."
At around 10:00 PM, Haight texted his wife, asking if the pair could talk but she never replied. Neighbors then told investigators that they heard gunshots over five hours later at around 03:30 AM.
In April, it was revealed that Haight left a suicide note blaming his wife for being controlling and manipulative, The New York Post reported. "This is nonsense and I can't handle it for one more day. We will not be a burden on society. I kept asking for help and you wouldn't listen. I would rather rot in hell than to put up with another day of this manipulation and control over me," he wrote.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they found Haight, Tausha, his mother-in-law Gail, and his five children Macie, Briley, Sienna, and sons Ammon and Gavin in bedrooms all around the home.
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