Records show local police and prosecutors decided to press charges against Michael Haight despite his allegations.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pallbearers carry one of the seven caskets after the Earl-Haight family funeral in La Verkin, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.
A Utah man who police say shot his wife, mother and five children before killing himself with a gun was investigated two years ago for child abuse, but local police and prosecutors decided to press charges, a new record released Tuesday said. .
Police records obtained by The Associated Press highlight information and a recent police investigation into the violence Michael Haight showed toward his family.
Officials said they were aware of domestic problems but did not elaborate at a press conference after the Jan. 4 shooting in the small town of Enoch, citing an ongoing investigation.
In an interview with authorities in 2020, Macie Haight, the family’s eldest daughter, described several incidents of violence, including one in which her father was choked and “scared to the point of suffocation and death.”
The child abuse investigation followed a call to police on Aug. 27, 2020 from a non-family member who reported possible child abuse. Macie, who was 14, told investigators that her father’s abuse began in 2017 and included choking and shaking, including the most recent incident when he grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against a pole behind the couch.
Two years later, police found eight bodies in the family’s home, including Macie’s. The suicide shook Enoch, a 8,000-person, southern Utah town outside Cedar City where neighbors and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints described the Haights as a loving family.
An obituary published in St. George Spectrum last week described Michael Haight in impressive terms as an Eagle Scout, businessman and father who “decided to spend quality time with each of his children.” The reports did not mention the killing and were removed from the Internet after controversy.
Police believe Haight, 42, opened fire two weeks after his wife divorced him and just days after family members said he took a gun from a home he could have stopped.
Two years earlier, in an interview with investigators, Haight denied hitting his daughter and said the report was misunderstood. He said Macie was “mouthy” and admitted that he was angry, saying that other problems were the death of his father and his brother’s divorce.
The investigator’s notes also show Haight’s relationship with his wife, Tausha Haight. Macie told investigators that her father often abused her mother, a charge she denied. In his interview, Michael Haight said he took his wife’s iPad and phone to check her text messages to see if she had spoken badly about his family.
Tausha Haight told authorities she did not want her husband to face charges and hoped it would “be a wake-up call” for him.
Although an investigator told Michael Haight that his behavior was “close to assault,” Enoch Police and the Iron County Attorney decided to press charges.
Enoch police did not respond Tuesday to a request to comment on why the charges were not filed. The Iron County Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that their office was subpoenaed in 2020 and determined there was insufficient evidence to charge Haight.
“Although not detailed, this decision was based on the failure to prove any of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt and/or the statute of limitations,” he said.
It added that prosecutors were not sent transcripts of interviews or police reports from Enoch Police to review.
Matt Munson, an attorney representing Michael Haight’s family, was not immediately available for comment.
Police found the bodies of the Haight family after they checked the medical center after receiving a call from a friend who said Tausha Haight had missed an appointment earlier in the week.
Officials said last week that police are continuing to investigate the deaths of the Haight family. The suicide drew national attention and words of comfort from Utah officials and President Joe Biden. It also confirmed how domestic homicides have become a serious problem in the United States, occurring about every 3.5 weeks for the past two decades.
