It’s the kind of headline that makes you physically ill. You’re scrolling through your feed, and there it is—another report where a man kills 3 daughters in a sudden, violent outburst that seems to defy every human instinct. People usually react with a mix of "how could he?" and a desperate need to find a monster behind the mask. But when you look at the data and the case files from the FBI and forensic psychologists, a much more complicated, and frankly more terrifying, picture starts to emerge.
Tragedy isn't always a slow burn. Sometimes it's a flash.
When we talk about these cases, we are technically talking about "familicide." This is a specific subset of domestic violence where a perpetrator, almost always the male head of the household, kills his intimate partner and children. Sometimes, as seen in the devastating 2022 case in Sacramento where David Fidel Mora-Rojas killed his three young daughters during a supervised visit, the violence is a direct strike against a mother who tried to leave. It's about power. It's about the "if I can't have them, no one can" mentality that ripples through these police reports.
Why a Man Kills 3 Daughters: The Psychology of "Family Annihilators"
Most people assume the guy must be "crazy."
Actually, forensic psychologists like Dr. Neil Websdale, who has spent decades studying these cases, suggest that many of these men are actually quite "stable" in the eyes of their neighbors until the very end. They aren't all foaming at the mouth. Many are what experts call "livid coercive" or "righteous" killers. They feel a sense of profound entitlement over their family members' lives. When their control is threatened—maybe by a divorce filing, a job loss, or a restraining order—they decide to "reset" the situation in the most permanent way possible.
The keyword here is control.
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Take the 2021 case in Ohio, where Chad Doerman was accused of lining up his sons and executing them. While that specific case involved sons, the psychological blueprint is identical to cases where a man kills 3 daughters. It is an act of ultimate ownership. In the perpetrator's warped logic, the children aren't independent human beings with futures; they are extensions of his own ego. If his ego is bruised, the "extensions" are discarded.
The Red Flags Everyone Misses
We love to say "there were no signs."
That's usually a lie we tell ourselves to feel safer. In reality, the signs are often screaming, but we don't know how to read the language of domestic lethality.
- Coercive Control: This isn't just hitting. It’s checking phone logs. It’s isolating the wife from her sisters. It’s making the daughters ask permission to use the bathroom.
- The "Final" Departure: Statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) show that the most dangerous time for a woman and her children is the 24 to 72 hours after she leaves or announces she is leaving.
- Past Suicidal Ideation: Many of these men plan to kill themselves afterward. If a father is talking about "ending it all" and expresses a "we're all going together" sentiment, that is a five-alarm fire.
The Role of Law Enforcement and Systemic Failure
Honestly, the system is broken.
In the Sacramento case mentioned earlier, Mora-Rojas had a restraining order against him. He was supposed to be supervised. But the supervision was provided by a friend from church, not a professional or a law enforcement officer. That gap—that tiny window of "trust"—allowed him to bring a gun into a place of worship and destroy his family.
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When a man kills 3 daughters, we often find a paper trail of 911 calls that led nowhere. Maybe the officers thought it was just a "heated domestic spat." Maybe the court thought the father deserved "visitation rights" regardless of his history of threats. We prioritize the "rights" of the parent over the "safety" of the children until it is far too late to do anything but process a crime scene.
Breaking the Silence on Gendered Violence
We have to call it what it is.
This isn't just "a tragedy." It is gendered violence. While women do kill their children—often linked to postpartum psychosis or severe mental illness—the act of killing an entire family is overwhelmingly a male-driven crime. This isn't an attack on men; it’s a factual observation of crime statistics. According to a study published in the Journal of Family Violence, male perpetrators of familicide often have a history of domestic abuse that was minimized by their social circles.
What Can Actually Be Done?
If you suspect someone is in a situation where a man kills 3 daughters could become a reality, "mindings your own business" is a death sentence.
Community intervention matters.
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We need to shift our focus from "Why doesn't she leave?" to "Why is he violent?" We need better enforcement of "red flag" laws that remove firearms from homes where domestic violence has been reported. In many states, even with a restraining order, the process for actually seizing weapons is clunky, slow, and often ignored.
Actionable Steps for Safety and Prevention
If you are in a situation where you fear for your children, or if you know someone who is, you need a plan that goes beyond just "getting out."
- Digital Privacy is Life or Death: Use a burner phone. Clear your browser history. Use "Incognito" mode to search for shelters. Many perpetrators use spyware to track their partner's intent to leave.
- The Lethality Assessment: Use resources like the Danger Assessment tool developed by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell. It helps victims understand the actual level of risk they face based on specific behaviors (e.g., strangulation, threats with weapons).
- Document Everything: Every text, every "joke" about killing the kids, every time he blocks the door. Keep this documentation in a cloud-based folder that he cannot access, or leave a physical copy with a trusted friend.
- Professional Supervision Only: If there is a history of violence, never agree to "informal" supervision for visits. Demand court-ordered, professional facilities.
- Engage with Local Advocacy: Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233). They don't just provide "advice"; they help build a logistical escape plan that accounts for children.
The horror of a man kills 3 daughters isn't just in the act itself, but in the preventable steps that were missed along the way. By recognizing that these acts aren't "senseless" but are actually the predictable end-point of unchecked coercive control, we can start to intervene before the headline is written. We owe it to the victims to look at the ugly truth of domestic power dynamics and refuse to look away until the laws catch up to the reality of the danger.
Education is the only way to turn "how could this happen?" into "this will never happen again."