A devout Christian family of three found shot to death of their Pennsylvania backyard last week took turns killing each other as a part of a murder-suicide pact they made months earlier, police said Friday.
Morgan Daub, 26, and her parents, James Daub, 62, and Deborah Daub, 59, left detailed notes explaining they made the “joint decision” to finish their lives together on Jan. 24 after Morgan told her parents she wished to commit suicide, the West Manchester Township Police Department said in a release.
Police discovered the trio’s bodies at their York home the morning of Jan. 25 while responding to a welfare check. A neighbor told police he heard three shots ring off in quick succession just before midnight.
The family left several written documents detailing their journey dating back a minimum of nine months, cops said.
In response to papers written by Deborah, she and Morgan had originally planned to kill themselves together and leave James behind. In an April 2022 note, she writes that Morgan selected their execution date based on a bible verse through which two parents give their child back to God.
“Samuel 1:24-28 Morgan selected the date! I think I actually have to be along with her!” Deborah wrote.
Deborah also wrote in regards to the “evil” Morgan and the family faces, but police said she didn’t go into great detail.
“The remainder of the letter appears to be directed to or about God and to her husband, James Daub. The letter reads as if she expects James to survive them after their passing,” police said.
In response to a letter left by James, he was not originally a part of the pact but opted to affix after hearing that his wife and daughter were planning to go away him.
“[H]e was crushed when Morgan told ‘us’ that she must end her life,” police said of his letter.
“Within the early parts of the letter James says that he just isn’t able to end his life but by the tip of the letter it is clear that he had then decided to accomplish that.”
The family left additional notes admitting that they died at each other’s hands.
“with only 2 guns & me being shaky, my wife Debbie pulled the trigger for me,” James wrote.
“I used to be too shaky, so my daughter pulled the trigger for me,” Deborah wrote.
Morgan, who was found wearing earmuffs, didn’t leave a note, but police determined she shot herself.
Their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the pinnacle and were “arranged in a straight line starting just a number of feet from the porch and increasing south.”
Police recovered an in depth checklist Morgan made that contained preparatory steps before ending her life, including talking to her father, clipping the dog’s nails, letters to family, etc. Additionally they left instructions for his or her living family, including instructions for the care of their dog.
The murder-suicide rocked the community, who knew the family as quiet, but devout Christians.
Neighbors described Morgan as a reserved girl who loved bowling along with her mother.
The Daubs were “never shy about letting anybody know what their beliefs were” when it got here to religion and politics, Bret Stabley, who operates the professional shop at Bowlers Supply within the town, told NBC News.
One other neighbor considered their beliefs a “preoccupation.”