Latest news with #MarkHumiston
Daily Mail
01-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Parents' disturbing behavior before son, 15, murdered them and three siblings at stunning $1.5m lakeside home
The parents of a 15-year-old accused of murdering them and three of his siblings were religious extremists who isolated the family, according to court documents. The accused teen killer, whose identity remains withheld due to a court order, was charged with the murders of his parents Mark and Sarah Humiston, 43 and 42, and siblings Katheryn, 7, Joshua, 9, and Benjamin, 13. Police say he massacred his family at their $1.5million lakefront home in Fall City, Washington, on October 2024. Only his 11-year-old sister survived the attack after she played dead and ran away to a neighbor's home. But the teen's lawyers said in court that his parents were abusive and tightly controlled their children's lives, isolating them from the outside world over their paranoia about the government and medical professionals. The Humistons were extremely religious and particularly suspicious about the Covid-19 vaccine, according to court documents seen by KOMO News. They homeschooled their children and raised them under a 'rigid, militant survivalist ideology,' giving them access to firearms, according to the teen's lawyer. Sarah Humiston's mother allegedly told authorities that her daughter was 'abusive and demeaning' to the children. The grandmother told police she threatened to report her daughter if the abuse did not stop, per court filings. 'A common theme that has been expressed amongst extended family, neighbors, and those who knew the Humistons is that the children were isolated from the outside world and did not engage socially with many peers – only a select few families that went to their church and were friends of their family,' the teen's lawyers said in court documents. The teen's attorneys revealed the information as they asked the court for more time to build a defense for him. They said 'everyone we have spoken with describe [the 15-year-old] as kind, respectful, and deeply devoted to his family.' The attorneys said the family's isolation has made it difficult to build a picture of that their life was like before the killings. Prosecutors, however, want the teen tried as an adult. They said the teen tried framing his younger brother Benjamin for the killings before his surviving sister revealed what had really occurred. The teen called 911 saying his brother had shot the family dead before killing himself after being caught watching porn the previous evening, according to police. He was also accused of staging the crime scene to implicate his 13-year-old brother. According to investigators, the 11-year-old survivor told detectives she witnessed her brother shooting family members and then checking their pulses to ensure they were dead. Her older brother then re-entered her bedroom, where she closed her eyes and held her breath as he stood next to her bed. She played dead before she escaping the bloodbath through a 'fire window' in her room and ran about a quarter of a mile away to a neighbor's house. In a disturbing detail, she remembered her brother leaning over the three family members he gunned down in the hallway before touching their bloodied bodies to make sure they were actually dead.
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Bad news for Washington boy, 15, accused of murdering parents and three siblings at stunning $1.4m lakeside home
A 15-year-old boy accused of killing his parents and three siblings in a picturesque, $1.4 million lakeside mansion in the Pacific Northwest may be tried as an adult under a move that would result in harsher penalties if found guilty. The Humiston family were horrifically massacred with the boy's father's Glock handgun in Washington last October. The accused teen killer is currently being tried in juvenile court with five counts of first-degree aggravated murder for allegedly killing his parents, Mark, 43, and Sarah Humiston, 42, and three of their children: Katheryn, 7, Joshua, 9, and Benjamin, 13. He is also facing one count of first-degree attempted murder of his surviving sister, 11. A King County Superior Court judge held a hearing on Tuesday as part of the push by prosecutors to determine if the boy will be tried as an adult, The Seattle Times reported. The prosecution requested a 'decline hearing' to begin a long investigation into the boy's life, including his school success, mental health history, or previous disciplinary actions or criminal activity. Judge Veronica Galván said: 'I understand that there's still some investigation, but the factors in the decline hearing are not all tied within some of the things that remain to investigate.' 'So I want to make sure that we are not conflating the two.' Prosecuting attorney Jason Brookhyser said a 'first round' of DNA analysis had been completed, ballistics analysis of shell casings is ongoing, and additional evidence was being tested for DNA. The couple's eldest son, 15, (in green) is accused of killing his parents, two brothers, and one of his two sisters. The surviving sister, 11, (in red) was shot twice and is now in hospital. The siblings are pictured with their father during happier times Brookhyser added that they're also waiting on a crime scene response report from the Washington State Patrol, but that they are ready to set a date for the hearing. The boy's defense attorney Kristen Gestaut requested additional evidence before addressing the juvenile decline factors, the outlet reported. Judge Galván ordered the defense to file a brief addressing the factors by next month. But Gestaut argued that 'initial testing' showed 'contamination' of the firearms in evidence for the case. She added that records for the boy's school and medical records were 'very limited' and it has been a challenge to obtain any information from other family members. The next hearing on the decision will be held in September. The two parents and three of their children were found dead, and another injured, just before 5am on October 21 in Fall City, about 25 miles east of Seattle. Mark and Sarah Humiston were said to have been extremely religious and imposed a highly-controlled existence on their five homeschooled children - including dictating who they could be friends with. A police report obtained by alleged that the teen tried to blame the massacre on his younger 13-year-old brother Benjamin. He claimed Benjamin shot the family and then killed himself after being caught watching porn the night prior to the incident. But it was the 15-year-old's younger sister and sole survivor of the bloodbath that said it was her eldest brother who fired two shots at her. The 11-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and arm but managed to survive the attack by playing dead before escaping through a window and running to a neighbor's home for help, according to an affidavit from the King's County Sheriff. According to detectives, the 15-year-old also attempted to stage the crime scene to lend credence to his story that it had been a murder-suicide perpetrated by Benjamin. The report notes that a black Glock pistol had been placed in the child's hand, but forensic investigators found that the ballistics didn't align with the scene as blood splatter from a fatal wound to the boy's face was in the wrong place. Neighbors had described the Humistons as 'the perfect family.' Soccer coach Rhea Robertson, who had mentored one of the victims, told KOMO News at a vigil held on Tuesday night that the couple had been 'dedicated' parents. 'Dad worked so hard, and mom was the most dedicated, loyal mother you could ask for,' she said. 'You thought they were perfect. From the outside, they looked perfect to me.' But family insiders told that their idyllic existence had a dark side, with the ultra-religious parents imposing a strict schedule on their five children and having extremely 'high expectations' of them. The source described how the family maintained a small tight-knit circle and had caused some bad feeling in the community over the summer after ordering their eldest sons to stay away from the children of LGBTQ families living nearby. 'It caused some disquiet,' the source said. 'Mark found out that the boys had made friends with those kids and insisted they didn't see them again. Everyone was quite upset about it.' Yet, a memorial of flowers was placed outside of their home the week of the deadly shooting.
