The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a murder-suicide that occurred on Monday, just days before Christmas. A 12-year-old boy sought help after a dispute between his mother and stepfather turned deadly.
The boy heard a gunshot while fleeing his home on Lemon Avenue in Highland City. Deputies found his mother fatally wounded and his 13-year-old sister critically injured, while a one-year-old remained unharmed. "This is horrific, but destroying a family and the mental health of these children so close to Christmas is especially horrific," Sheriff Grady Judd said, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office press release.
The suspect, 47-year-old Jason Kenney, was not at the home when police arrived. He had fled the scene and told his sister that he had done something really bad and that he was not going to jail. Deputies later found him deceased in a shed on his late father’s property.
