Was the Fall City family massacre a murder-suicide? The defense team weighs in

A 15-year-old Fall City, WA teenager is accused of murder and attempted murder in the October shooting deaths of his parents and three siblings. According to the boy’s defense team, however, the case might not be so open and shut.

Allegedly, early in the morning on Oct. 21, the teenage suspect shot and killed his parents, Mark and Sarah Humiston, and three of his siblings, Katheryn Humiston, 7, Joshua Humiston, 9, and Benjamin Humiston, 13. The suspect ⏤ who, because of his age, has not been named in the press ⏤ also shot his 11-year-old sister, who has also not been identified in the press, but she survived and escaped to a neighbor’s house and called 911, telling dispatch her 15-year-old brother had shot and killed her family.

The 15-year-old also called the police

At the same time, the 15-year-old suspect also 911 and told them Benjamin, 13, had shot and killed his family before turning the gun on himself. The eldest boy said he hid during the massacre. But according to the authorities, the suspect staged the scene to appear that Benjamin was responsible and that his 11-year-old sister, who said her oldest brother was the only one who knew how to access their father’s gun, was telling the truth.

An official motive has not yet been determined, but reports have said the 15-year-old may have been caught viewing online pornography, although he reportedly told dispatch Benjamin was in trouble for doing the same thing. Poor grades may have also motivated the attack, other reports have said. The 11-year-old was treated at a Fall City hospital and released.

The murder-suicide is ‘forensically viable’

With the 15-year-old suspect, who had no previous criminal record, now charged, public defense attorneys have said the boy’s version of events ⏤ that it was his 13-year-old brother who shot and killed his family and then killed himself ⏤ could be “forensically viable,” according to court documents. According to the Snoqualmie Valley Record, the 15-year-old’s 911 call has been corroborated, and he had no blood on him, which public defense attorneys say would have been impossible if he had pulled the trigger. The lack of a clear motive could also indicate the 15-year-old was telling the truth, court documents added.

Based on this uncertainty, a planned cleaning of the Humiston family home has been delayed for further investigation. “It is my experience that law enforcement can and does engage in bias investigations when they think they have the ‘right’ suspect,” public defender Amy Parker wrote in court filings.

Poor grades and an eyewitness account

Contrasting what could preview the 15-year-old’s defense, the 11-year-old survivor told the police she recognized her eldest brother when he shot her, hitting her in the hand and neck, and she also recognized her father’s gun. She told the authorities her oldest sibling was the only one who knew the combination to the lockbox where it was kept. She saw the 15-year-old check the bodies to determine whether they were dead and said he had recently been in trouble for poor grades, as a possible motive for the attack, according to CNN. According to the authorities, the 15-year-old put the gun in his brother’s left hand to make it appear he had done it, but there was no blood on the weapon on the boy’s left hand as would most often be the case if he had shot himself.

But referring to these conflicting details in the case, public defender Amy Parker told CNN, “I would remind everyone that these are not proven facts, merely allegations, and the law presumes our client is innocent of these charges. We want the court to know that our client is a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal history.”