On September 1, 1996, four sisters in Dennehotso, Arizona were killed inside their family home. Fifteen-year-old Veneashia Ann Yazzie and her sisters Jazann, 13; Cara, 8; and Nathalie, 5, were fatally shot. Their 11-year-old brother Rhyan survived serious injuries after pretending to be dead. Their mother was away visiting relatives at the time.

Their father, 33-year-old Norman Dean Yazzie, was identified as the shooter. Neighbors — his parents — discovered two vehicles on fire near his trailer and, while investigating smoke, found him holding a .22-caliber rifle and the children’s bodies inside a trailer that smelled strongly of gasoline. He was initially restrained but escaped; the next morning he was captured hiding between two mattresses in a nearby traditional Navajo dwelling and taken into custody while armed with a knife. A note attributed to him expressed anger over his wife’s alleged infidelity and mentioned a recent suicide attempt by her; he reportedly said he could not handle the idea of not having a family.

Norman Dean Yazzie was convicted in December 1996 of four counts of first-degree murder and other felonies and received life without parole plus 85 years on March 11, 1997. Did anyone in the community have information about the family’s situation before that September day that could shed light on what led to this tragedy?