Kids looked on as dad shot mom to death in driveway, then kill him himself (Concord, New Hampshire)

More crappy reporting and lazy journalism. We see that dad MATTHEW BALCH was a verbally and physically abusive @$$hole, a control freak, who eventually gunned down the mother of his children and killed her--in front of the kids no less.

And Mom? That she sometimes argued back?

How does that make for a "tumultuous relationship" which implies both parties were equally into sturm and drang? It doesn't.

But it does sound like Daddy's mother was in big-time denial about Daddy's violence. By encouraging Mom to return to her angry and violent son, she basically set her up. Lots of enabling and meddling here that she appears to take no responsibility for.

http://www.wmur.com/r/29472595/detail.html

Report: Children Witnessed Parents' Murder-Suicide

Report Describes Abusive Relationship Between Matthew, Sarah Balch
POSTED: 10:09 am EDT October 13, 2011
UPDATED: 1:26 pm EDT October 13, 2011


CONCORD, N.H. -- Two children looked on as their father fatally shot their mother in the driveway of their Concord home and then killed himself in June, a report from the attorney general’s office says.

The report describes a tumultuous relationship between 25-year-old Sarah Balch and 22-year-old Matthew Balch, who were in a relationship for five years and married for a year.

The couple lived on Elm Street with their two daughters, 2 and 5. Witnesses interviewed by investigators described Matthew as verbally and physically abusive at times and controlling, and cellphone records show the arguments between the two became more intense leading up to the shooting, the report said.

In the week leading up to the shooting, Sarah told Matthew she was done with the relationship and wanted a “civil” divorce. She had also told Matthew’s mother, Diane Balch, that she had found another man.

Diane Balch told investigators both had developed drug habits over the past year but had gotten off drugs. She also told investigators she encouraged the two to fix their problems in the week leading up to the shooting.

The report says Matthew sent Sarah roses at work on Monday, June 13, and cleaned the house as part of his effort to make up with her.

At 11 p.m. that day, after Sarah had not returned home, Matthew went looking for her.

Diane told investigators she encouraged the two to go back to the house, where their children had been left alone.

The report says that when Sarah returned home, she and Matthew got into a heated argument. About 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, Matthew called his mother and said, "Mom, you better get over here or your grandchildren will wake up with two dead parents," Diane told investigators.


Diane told Matthew to stop being melodramatic and go to bed, the report says.

At 7:30 a.m., Diane got a call from Sarah saying Matthew had thrown her against a sliding door. Diane told Sarah to call 911 and Diane took another granddaughter, who was staying with her, and drove to Sarah and Matthew’s house.

The report says Diane arrived at the house and saw Sarah in the driveway and Matthew approaching her with a rifle. Diane drove her truck in between the two, but Matthew walked around the truck and shot Sarah, the report says.

Diane grabbed her granddaughter and went to help the couple’s two children who were standing outside the house.

The 5-year-old was yelling and asking why “daddy shot mommy,” the report says.

Matthew went back into the house, told his mother and children he loved them, and went back outside and shot himself just before police arrived.

No criminal charges will be filed in the case.