Steven Jones, a British ex-pat living in New York reportedly killed his American wife and 12-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself.
The 46-year-old British man had a day before the double murder-suicide incident, sent an email to a family friend of more than 40 years, Kenneth Petch, apologizing for creating ‘such chaos’. He also asked for the email to be relayed to his parents, Roy and Rita.
It read: “Hi mum and dad, this is Steve. I do this to protect Emma. It’s taken me 18 years, but I realise that I have wandered down the wrong path with the wrong person and that I have been manipulated for too long.
“I cannot bear the thought of this happening to a special 12-year-old, and if I don’t intervene, she will be left to the wolves all alone.
“You were wonderful parents, none of this is your fault or could have been prevented. I’m sorry to produce such chaos, but hopefully, there are good memories too.
“I remember many happy times during our visits. You always made us feel welcome and loved. Please focus on the good times, there were truly many good times.
“I do this to protect Emma. Love Steve.”
The electrical engineer was found dead a day after on December 14, 2018, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Steven’s corpse was found, after New York Police officers carried out a welfare check at his family address in Ballston Spa, following his employers, GlobalFoundries’ concern that he had not turned up for work. His wife, Jennifer, and their daughter Emma were both discovered dead in separate upstairs bedrooms, with multiple gunshot wounds.
Though Jones’s parents told an inquest that their son was a “family man” and they were not aware of him going through any “financial, health or marital difficulties”, investigators reached the conclusion that the 46-year-old man had murdered his family members before turning the gun on himself as there were no “suspicious circumstances” surrounding his death.
It was further learnt that parents of the deceased received a Christmas card, calendar and selection of five photos of Jones’ family looking happy together, a few days after news of the deaths was broken to them. The items were post stamped December 12.
