Warning: This article contains content that some readers may find upsetting
Police have released haunting recordings taken from the day before a man who killed his entire family.
Michael Haight had been under investigation for child abuse when he gunned down his wife, five children and mother-in-law at their home in Utah in January of this year.
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Haight then turned the gun on himself, ending his own life.
Recordings of conversations from the day before the tragedy have now been released by police, and reveal Haight's manipulative nature. They are equal parts sinister and hauntingly mundane:
Speaking to his five children, he is heard saying: "We might go sledding again. We won't do that today, but we can go to the mountains, maybe tomorrow or the next day."
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The children, aged 17, 12, seven, seven, and four, all died.
Another conversation includes an exchange between Haight and his wife Tausha - she had expressed her wish that he move out of the family home, saying she didn't 'feel safe' with him due to his controlling and abusive behavior.
They had also discussed child support and her contacting lawyers to end the marriage.
Haight can be heard saying: "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"
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He added: "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."
Tausha replied: "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."
At this point Haight starts to become emotional and even begins to cry at one point, saying: "I know that I'm the cause, I know, I have things to work on. I know it.
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"I know I have so many good traits, too. And I know if I can work on these. I'm just I'm pleading."
The following day, Haight shot his entire family dead and killed himself, leaving a chilling suicide note.
The note read: "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.
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"I would rather rot in hell than to put up with another day of this manipulation and control over me."
Kit Roberts