On December 26, 2017, three members of one Omaha family were killed at the Daltons’ home at 3912 N. 37th St. Eighteen-year-old Leonna Dalton-Phillip, who was a senior and drill team co-captain at Burke High School, died alongside her grandparents, John Dalton, 70, and Jean Dalton, 65. Leonna had gone to her grandparents’ house that evening to pick up her younger sister, London, who was about 6 or 7 and survived by hiding and later running to a neighbor’s house saying they had been shot.

The suspect was identified as John W. Dalton Jr., 46, the Daltons’ son and Leonna’s uncle; he had served more than 11 years in prison for manslaughter and was released on parole in 2010. Police found Leonna’s car running outside the home when they arrived. Leonna’s father, Claude Phillip, described her as a straight-A student who had recently won an essay contest on the Holocaust and remembered their last moments together on Christmas Day.

The community held a Mass of Christian Burial for Leonna on January 5. The motive for the killings remains unclear. If anyone knew Leonna, her grandparents, or saw anything the night of December 26, please come forward.