On October 15, 1999, 3-year-old Brian Harrington, a white male, was shot and killed in his Detroit home. His father, Paul Harrington, a former Detroit police officer and Vietnam War veteran with a history of severe psychological problems, also shot and killed Brian’s mother, Wanda, as she slept, then called 911 and waited for police. Officers who entered the house found the bodies of Wanda and Brian.

Paul Harrington confessed to the killings and reportedly referenced a prior family massacre in 1975, saying they should have put him away then. In 1975 he had murdered his first wife and two daughters and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, spending time in a psychiatric facility before release. At the 1999 trial his lawyers argued he was not criminally responsible because of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; the jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and imposed life without parole.

Did anyone who knew the Harrington family in Detroit remember warning signs or moments that might explain how this tragedy unfolded?