Grandmother Kills Young Grandchildren, Daughter And Herself

Grandmother Kills Young Grandchildren, Daughter And Herself On December 14th, Bonnie Hoult, a sixty-seven year old grandmother of two little girls, killed her grandchildren and thirty-eight year old daughter in a friend’s home in San Clemente, California. Investigators believe that the killing was a result of a bitter custody battle between her daughter, Elizabeth Fontaine, and her ex-husband, Jason Fontaine over their two daughters, two-year-old Julia and four-year-old Catherine. Gun residue from a .357 magnum was found on both adults' hands, making it difficult for investigators to understand which woman was the shooter.

The custody battle began last year, in December, when Elizabeth Fontaine filed for divorce from her husband. When she and her mother, who had had a close relationship since early in Elizabeth’s life, fought for custody of the two girls, their claim was that Jason Fontaine had molested his daughters. An Orange County judge ruled the claim as "groundless".

On Monday morning, when a policeman was visiting the San Clemente home to do a routine checkup on the family, Hoult was standing outside holding her eldest granddaughter when the deputy pulled up. It is believed that she thought that he had come to take her grandchildren away from herself and Elizabeth, and she ran inside with the little girl, locking all the doors to the house, which belonged to a friend who was away for the holidays.

When she got back inside, evidence indicates that she first pulled the trigger to the small gun in Julia’s mouth, killing the two-year-old. Next to be shot was Elizabeth, who is believed to have been a willing participant in the slaying. After killing her youngest grandchild and her daughter, Hoult took Catherine and shot her in the same way as her sister and mother, through the mouth. Next, the ex-school teacher, shot herself. The four of them were found in a pile together, underneath a Christmas wreath at the back of the house. Paramedics who had been called to the home were so distraught by the grizzly scene were offered counseling.

Elizabeth Fontaine’s half-brother, Howard Hoult, described Bonnie Hoult as, “not being well-balanced.” Hoult’s ex-husband, Charles Hoult, found out about the killings of his granddaughters and daughter while recovering from a recent surgery on his seventy-sixth birthday. Jason Fontaine’s lawyer commented on his client’s wellbeing in this statement:

“He's a good, decent human being. This type of tragedy should not be visited upon anybody. Now that we're learning the circumstances, it just gets worse. It's something out of Greek tragedy."

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