On December 18, Philadelphia cops responded to 911 calls from neighbors who heard screaming.
Upon arrival to the home near 19th and Haines Streets at around 8 pm, police found 39-year-old Maisah Larkin dead with multiple gunshots to her head.
A man named Stanley Baptiste, 37, was suspected in the shooting. He is said to have been Larkin’s partner. He allegedly shot and killed the woman, then left with their children – triplets, a girl and two boys.
The Philadelphia Police Department tweeted that Baptiste and the children were missing, in an attempt to gather clues from neighbors. They wrote that the children were at “special risk of harm or injury.” The tweet has since been deleted.
Baptiste was found at around 10 pm on the same day in Lansdale, Montgomery County, while inside his 2004 Gold Lincoln Navigator on Valley Forge Road. When the police tried to stop his vehicle, it slowed down.
When the police checked on the vehicle, they found Baptiste dead with multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head.
The police then faced a new problem; the triplet toddlers were not in the car.
After a search, the toddlers were found on Monday with a friend of the family in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles from Philadelphia. Fortunately, the children were safe and unharmed.
According to Fox 29 news, there had been prior instances of domestic violence in the household. A neighbor said that Larkin told her that Baptiste has been abusing her and that she wanted to leave him.
The police are investigating the murder-suicide incident. The children, now orphans, were placed in the care of another relative.