On March 13, 1982, Allendale, Michigan lost five members of the Paulson family in a deliberate and brutal attack. Thirteen-year-old Carla Sue Paulson, her parents Robert and Mary Jane Paulson, and her sisters Cynthia, 18, and Casey, 8, were each shot multiple times with a .22 caliber weapon; the house was then set on fire. Carla and her younger sister Casey were found in the kitchen with their arms reaching for each other.

Investigators identified Maris Karklins, a former co-worker of Mary Jane Paulson, as the assailant. Karklins later confessed, saying he believed the family were demons and described himself as a hit man for God; he said he received a sign to carry out the killings after talking with Robert and Mary Jane. He was arraigned on five counts of first-degree murder, found guilty at trial, and sentenced to mandatory life without parole.