On December 4, 1997, Kimberly Denise Lampp Daniels, 33, was shot to death in her home in the small town of Santa Claus, Georgia, along with her husband, Danny Lewis Daniels, 43, and two of their children, 16-year-old Jessica Noel Daniels and 8-year-old Bryant Edward Daniels. The family, who had fostered many children, was discovered by a concerned person who went to the house and found the scene.

Law enforcement identified Jerry Scott Heidler, a former foster child who had lived with the Daniels and knew the home and routines, as the suspect. Investigators reported that the victims died from gunshot wounds. Heidler was arrested, tried, convicted of the four murders, and sentenced to death. The case has been referred to in media accounts as the Santa Claus Murders or the Dasher Lane Massacre.