A peaceful neighbourhood is reeling after authorities discovered a family of four dead in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said deputies found the bodies of 41-year-old Larrica Gaines Smith, her husband Kenneth O’Neil Smith Jr., 44, and their two children — 15-year-old Khristian and 11-year-old Kinsley — early Thursday morning inside their Daphne home, Alabama , United States, and all appeared to have been shot.
Officers responded to the residence after a relative called with concerns for the family’s welfare.
Sheriff Anthony Lowery described the scene as heartbreaking. “You know that was their friends,” he said, recalling that the children’s cell phones kept ringing as investigators worked. “I’ve been doing this for 29 years. It’s only the second time I’ve had to work a case where the whole family has been killed. It looks like some type of domestic issue that escalated into this. It’s as tragic as it comes.”
Detectives believe Kenneth Smith shot his wife and children before turning the gun on himself. A handgun was recovered at the scene, and forensic evidence pointed to him as the shooter, according to WALA.
“We will absolutely work this like any other homicide investigation. There is no reason to believe anything happened anywhere else but inside the house,” Lowery said. He added that the neighborhood is in mourning. “The neighbors are really hurting. This is a quiet neighborhood. They are proud of where they live here.”
Although investigators are confident the deaths stemmed from a domestic dispute, Lowery said some questions may never be answered. “We may never get all of the answers because there won’t be a suspect to interview or anything along those lines so we’ll have to use our forensic techniques as best we can to piece it back together and we’ll rely on [that] information,” he explained. “We’ll talk to friends and family and coworkers and all those things to try and find out as much as we can.”
Crisis teams have been sent to Daphne High School and Daphne East Elementary, where the Smith children attended classes.
Neighbours and friends described the family as kind and close-knit. Shannon Brannon, who lives nearby, said she was stunned by the tragedy. “Their kids were so sweet. They babysat my daughter. Just good people. She just told me they celebrated their wedding anniversary two weeks ago and was happy about it, so I just don’t understand. I don’t understand how this could happen,” she said.
Larrica Smith worked as a realtor until 2018. Her former colleague, Sue Lyon of Exit Realty Lyon, said she was shocked to hear the news.
“You’d just kind of imagine it would be a certain type of family that would happen to and you’d never think something like that would happen to them because she was always so quiet and polite and everything, but I mean… it’s horrible,” Lyon said. “She was so sweet, she was very quiet. She was the kind of person that you just thought, man she’s gonna work so great in real estate.”
(DAILY MAIL)
