On October 19, 2022, 11-year-old William Junior Darling III and his mother, 38-year-old Melissa Darling, were found dead in their South Side Billings home from gunshot wounds. Law enforcement described the deaths as a double murder-suicide; investigators identified Junior’s father and Melissa’s husband, William Darling II, as the person who fatally shot them before turning the gun on himself and dying at the scene. No arrests were made because the alleged perpetrator was also deceased.

Family members said there had been problems in the household and expressed profound shock and sorrow at the outcome. It was reported that William Darling II had been unemployed for about a decade, a circumstance family noted as one of the stresses within the family. The community was left mourning the loss of a young boy and his mother.

If anyone knew Junior or his family or has information about the events that led to that night, please come forward with what you know.