History Main / PaterFamilicide

* Jennifer and Sarah Hart are believed to have intentionally driven their van off a cliff with the six children tied up and drugged in the backseat on March 26, 2018, leaving no survivors. In the aftermath of the tragedy, it was revealed that Jennifer had been abusing the children for years[[note]]though the children were living with both women, most of the abuse is attributed to Jennifer, although Sarah carries some blame for [[UselessBystanderParent standing by and letting it happen]][[/note]] and that the family was evading child services by moving repeatedly; when it began to look like they would no longer be able to evade them, they killed the children and themselves rather than deal with the fallout.

* It's mentioned that a main character's father in the novel ''Literature/FinalDestination: Looks Could Kill'' went insane at a reunion and killed most of his family, and a number of other random people, before committing SuicideByCop.

* Tana French's ''Broken Harbor'' raises the possibility that this is what happened to the family whose murder kicks off the plot. As the detectives find out more about the father, the evidence against him mounts: he'd just lost his job, it was possible he might have [[MistakenForCheating thought his wife was cheating on him]] with an old friend of theirs, and he'd become convinced there was an animal in the house and was obsessively pursuing it, clearly undergoing massive SanitySlippage. [[spoiler:It was actually the mother.]]

--> '''Horatio''': "I didn't know what I was doing and I definetly didn't know it was wrong!"

* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' had a guy who did this and then claimed post-partum depression; that is, he claimed his ''wife'' had been suffering post-partum depression in the weeks leading up to the slaughter. Only, she hadn't.

*** One case has a father who lied about having a job with the UN -- in fact, he didn't have a job at all. [[spoiler: Fortunately, the wife was unharmed and the detectives were able to save the kids.]]

* In ''Film/When a Killer Calls'', Richard Hewitt kills his, wife, son and daughter. No motive is given for his actions beyond the implication that he was a closeted psychopath whose sexual assault of his former babysitter Trisha prompted him to finally snap and embark on a sadistic rampage that left himself and a dozen other people dead (He also killed his and his family's friends the Walkers, their daughter (his children's friend), a neighbor of the Walkers, two police officers, Trisha's boyfriend and two other friends of Trisha's before Richard himself was killed by Trisha who shot him with a gun).

** In ''Film/When a Killer Calls'', Richard Hewitt kills his, wife, son and daughter. No motive is given for his actions beyond the implication that he was a closeted psychopath whose sexual assault of his former babysitter Trisha prompted him to finally snap and embark on a sadistic rampage that left himself and a dozen other people dead (He also killed his and his family's friends the Walkers, their daughter (his children's friend), a neighbor of the Walkers, two police officers, Trisha's boyfriend and two other friends of Trisha's before Richard himself was killed by Trisha who shot him with a gun).

** In ''Film/When a Killer Calls'', Richard Hewitt kills his, wife, son and daughter. No motive is given for his actions beyond the implication that he was a closeted psychopath whose sexual assault of his former babysitter Trisha prompted him to finally snap and embark on a sadistic rampage that left himself and a dozen other people dead (He also killed his and his family's friends the Walkers, their daughter (his children's friend), a neighbor of the Walkers, two police officers, Trisha's boyfriend and two other friends of Trisha's before Richard himself was killed by Trisha who shot him with a gun.

* Another real-life version was the tragedy surrounding professional wrestler Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, who murdered his wife and son then hanged himself using his weights machine. Exactly why it happened is not known, but a history of steroid use and some pretty significant brain injuries were likely involved since the autopsy showed that "Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient." Another reason would be the death of his best friend Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, which was reportedly something he was never fully able to move on from.

* Gender-inverted in ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai''. Tomoe Enjou’s mother, after killing her husband, killed her son and then herself. The Tomoe that Shiki meets is an ArtificialHuman made from his preserved brain.

** There's a particular kind of ghost called a "Woman in White" that results from a woman killing her children and then committing suicide. The idea seems to have come from South American legends of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llorona La Llorona]].

-->-- '''The Radio Voice''', ''[[VideoGame/SilentHills P.T.]]''

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime]]

* ''{{Manga/Kurosagi}}'': This serves as the basis of Kurosaki's motivation to become the titular "Black Swindler". His father got caught up in a fraud and fell into a debt. He killed himself after murdering the rest of his family. Kurosaki was the SoleSurvivor of the incident, and since then, he devotes his life to defraud other swindlers.

* The NYC cops in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' arrested a father who admitted to murdering his kids, because he feared that the possibility of nuclear war would make their lives miserable. Of course, the irony of this situation comes twofold: [[spoiler:the war never happened, though that's because NYC was blown up by Veidt and made to look like an interstellar attack. So they would've all died, anyway]].
** [[spoiler:Threefold, if you considered that Adrian Veidt's plan might be doomed to failure.]]
* ''{{ComicBook/Enigma}}'' has a group called the Interior League who break into peoples homes and [[GasLighting rearrange their furniture]] in such a way that when the owner enters the room, seeing the new furniture pattern [[BrownNote triggers some response in their brain]] that causes them to go stark raving mad and murder their whole family.
* In the graphic novel ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: EGO'', one of ComicBook/TheJoker's henchmen (who Batman had convinced to betray him) did this upon learning that his former boss was going to [[CardboardPrison get out (again)]] and come after him and his family. Considering [[FateWorseThanDeath the Joker's idea of 'fun']], it can be argued this actually ''was'' mercy. [[HeroicBSOD Batman doesn't take it well.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/TheWolfman2010'': [[spoiler:Given that John is the one who killed his wife and Ben and probably would have succeeded in killing Larry if the hunters hadn't come along...]]

-->'''The Hangman:''' You killed your mother and father? Why?
-->'''Catherine Reece:''' They were starvin', there was no food, so I sent 'em to a better place.
-->'''The Hangman:''' What about your aunt, your uncle, and all your cousins?
-->'''Catherine Reece:''' [[ComedicSociopathy I never liked them.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/Class2016'', April's father tried to kill himself, her mother, and her when she was a small child by deliberately crashing the family car. All of them survived, but her mother was left paralyzed from the waist down and her father served a jail sentence for attempted murder.
* ''Series/HomicideHunter''

* At the climax of the first season of ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'', Alex discovers that [[spoiler:the car bomb that killed her parents and that she's been trying to avert all season was actually a MurderSuicide by her father, who also intended it to kill her]].

[[folder:Myth and Legend]]
* [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Heracles]], the archetype of testosterone-overdose, was cursed by Hera with a fit of madness, and he killed his wife Megara and all their children. As an indirect result, he ended up undertaking his famed Twelve Labors.

[[folder:Other]]
* ''[[http://www.fredvanlente.com/cthulhutract/pages/ Why We're Here]]'' is a Lovecraftian parody of the infamous ''ComicBook/ChickTracts''. In it, a good family man talks to Old Man Whateley who converts him to the Truth of the ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos''. The good family man promptly chops up his family with an ax to spare them from the horror of the Elder Gods.
* Many versions of old-school ''Theatre/PunchAndJudy'' puppet shows feature Punch beginning his career of mayhem by throwing his baby out a window and beating his wife to death.
* The Lius are prone to OffingTheOffspring in ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Liu Chen takes it the furthest by killing his entire family as a political statement. Given the [[BlackComedy death scene competition,]] they're all quite enthusiastic about it - however, it proves to be too much even for the [[EveryoneHasStandards death scene judges.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''Podcast/SickSadWorld'': "Fathers In Crime" defines the term family annihilators (people who kill their entire families, usually in one rampage), and the episode’s two cases focus on such murderers.
** ”Who You Gonna Call?” talks about ''Literature/TheAmityvilleHorror''. The evil supernatural forces supposedly started with a young man murdered his parents and siblings.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* A lesbian couple named Jennifer and Sarah Hart adopted six children, and continuously abused them all for years until child protection services became aware of what's going on. Before they could cancel the adoptions, the two drove off a cliff with the six children tied up and drugged in the backseat on March 26, 2018, leaving no survivors.

* Considering her entire family to be a burden (except her second daughter, who was her favorite child and ''accomplice'', Diane Staudte murdered her husband and autistic son with antifreeze and was working on killing her oldest and youngest daughters when she was caught. The older daughter survived what ''should'' have been lethal doses of antifreeze, but was left with enough brain damage that she had to be put in a care home. The youngest daughter hadn't ingested enough antifreeze to be seriously ill, and was put in foster care. The middle daughter was sentenced to a minimum of 42 years and Diane herself received life without parole.

* The United States Supreme Court case ''[[https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/04-278 Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales]]'' began with this. On June 22, 1999, Simon Gonzales kidnapped his three daughters from their mother's custody, took them to an amusement park for the day, and then killed them before committing SuicideByCop. [[note]]The case was filed by Gonzales' ex-wife, the children's mother, who had attempted to alert the police that he was in violation of a restraining order and possibly a danger to himself and the girls, only to be told that [[WhatAnIdiot their father wouldn't hurt them]] and she needed to calm down.[[/note]]

** ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'': In one episode, the wife seems to be unstable; later, the detectives (who had just been to the house that day) find everyone dead, save the husband who was only grazed. Elliot is sympathetic, only to learn from the Crime Scene Unit that the only way the husband could've been injured is if he was aiming the gun at himself.

* In the ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' miniseries, [[spoiler: civil servant John Frobisher is told that his two daughters must be sacrificed to the invading aliens (leaving the children to a FateWorseThanDeath) in order for the government to save face. He returns home, sends his family to one of the bedrooms, takes a gun and follows them up. [[GoryDiscretionShot The door closes]] and [[TearJerker three gunshots are heard, then a pause followed by a fourth]]. The final [[KickTheDog kicker]] comes from the fact that Torchwood defeats the alien threat a mere few hours later, which means Frobisher did it AllForNothing.]]

* At the climax of the first season of ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'', Alex discovers that [[spoiler:the car bomb that killed her parents and that she's been trying to avert all season was actually a suicide-murder by her father, who also intended it to kill her]].

* In the ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' miniseries, [[spoiler: civil servant John Frobisher is told that his two daughters must be sacrificed to the invading aliens (leaving the children to a fate worse than death) in order for the government to save face. He returns home, sends his family to one of the bedrooms, takes a gun and follows them up. [[GoryDiscretionShot The door closes]] and [[TearJerker three gunshots are heard, then a pause followed by a fourth]]. The final [[KickTheDog kicker]] comes from the fact that Torchwood defeats the alien threat a mere few hours later, which means Frobisher did it all for nothing.]]

* The page quote comes from the playable teaser P.T. for ''VideoGame/SilentHills'', where it is part of the backstory that after a long period of unemployment, a father learns that his wife is now pregnant with her boss' child, and murders her and their two existing children. [[MindScrew What that has to do with the gameplay]] [[SurrealHorror or characters involved is still debated]].

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', Nolan Stross killed his wife and child in a fit of madness induced by contact with the Aegis VII Marker.

* Captain Brage in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' gets his hands on a cursed bastard sword, goes berserk and kills his family, along with several of his fellow officers.
* In the first ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' game, the Master of the Himuro Mansion goes insane when the Rope Maiden ritual fails, and he proceeds to kill not only his family, but the priests, the attendants, and everyone in the household not previously killed by the Dark. Then he becomes a ghost that continues to slay anyone who enters the Mansion.
* In the sequel to the flash game ''VideoGame/{{Exmortis}}'', [[spoiler: you find the bodies of three children, a woman, and their father/husband. A revolver lays next to him with but one bullet remaining, and the blood splatter suggests he took his life. Oh, he also spells it out in a journal you find.]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': [[spoiler:Huey]] murdered his wife [[MurderByInaction by inaction]] when she objected to ''using their infant son as a Metal Gear test pilot''. Years later, he committed what appeared to be a MurderSuicide when he [[spoiler:drowned himself and almost drowned his stepdaughter in his pool]] when he found out that his second wife [[spoiler: was an ephebophile who cheated on him with his 14-year-old son]]. In the latter case, though, it's not clear if he intended to murder [[spoiler:Emma]] or if it was an accident.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkTales: The Pit and the Pendulum'', the question of whether or not this happened is the focus of the bonus chapter. The man believed to have murdered his wife and daughter is, in the main game, suspected of killing again in the present day, as details of the murders are nearly identical. [[spoiler:The game [[TheUnreveal does not actually tell the player]] if he is guilty of any of the crimes.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'': Rin Yamaoka's backstory reveals that she was a victim of this. Once a normal Japanese girl attending University, she came home one day to find that her father snapped under the financial strain his family was in, dismembering his wife with a katana before turning it on his own daughter. After getting slashed and thrown through a glass partition, Rin's rage and hatred towards her father caught the attention of [[BigBad The Entity]], who offered her the chance for [[BestServedCold revenge]] as she died...and thus, [[VengefulGhost The]] [[MurderIntoMalevolence Spirit]] was born.
* The 2012 reboot of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' has Sweet Tooth [[spoiler:murdering his alternate identities' family after pulling a SplitPersonalityTakeover, and his wish is to find his daughter who was the sole survivor]]. At least until it's revealed that he [[spoiler:also spared one of the sons to take up his mantle after his own demise]].