When a married couple were found dead inside their Tamarac home Monday, they became the ninth and tenth victims of a wave of murder-suicides in South Florida in less than 24 hours.
The couple, found inside their home on the 7000 block of Northwest 106th Ave. by police conducting a welfare check, were just one of three separate incidents that left six adults and four children dead.
"An out of state relative had contacted us after getting a letter indicating that there would be a murder-suicide at this house," said BSO spokesperson Dani Moschella at the scene of the Tamarac tragedy. "We may never know exactly what was going through the mind of this man when he planned this. It looks like he's been planning this for several days."
The first shooting incident happened around 2 a.m. Monday, when police in Riviera Beach say a man killed his estranged wife and four stepchildren, ages 10 to 14, before turning the gun on himself.
Seven kids were at the home when Patrick Dell, 41, shot Natasha Whyte-Dell, 36. The couple was in the midst of a divorce, and there had reportedly been a history of violence, with Whyte-Dell taking out a restraining order against Dell.
All four children were pronounced dead at the scene, but a 15-year-old child, who was also shot, was taken to the hospital.
The four children identified as 10-year-old Daniel Barnett; 11-year-old Javon Nelson; 13-year-old Diane Barnett; and 14-year-old Bryan Barnett.
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Police say Dell spared the couple's two young biological children, ages 1 and 3.
Hours later, a man and woman were found dead from gunshot wounds outside a Lauderdale Lakes home in what appears to be the aftermath of a murder-suicide.
Around 2:30 p.m., Broward Sheriff's deputies responded to calls of gunfire at 4541 N.W. 32nd Court. When they arrived, they found the two lifeless bodies in the car port area of the house, with the woman's body sitting on a bench and the man laying on the floor beneath her.
Three other people were at the house at the time of the shooting. A friend of the female victim, identified as 39-year-old Lena Mitiledessalines, said the woman had just moved to South Florida from Philadelphia after she broke up with the man.
BSO is classifying it a murder suicide, but the investigation is ongoing.
