Midweek Mini | Inside the Deadliest Utah Mass Shooting Since 2007; The Haynie Family Murders | Colin Haynie

AI Co hosts share their thoughts on Utah’s deadliest mass shooting since 2007

In today’s episode, we’re telling you a case of a town’s first homicide in nearly 20 years and the deadliest mass shooting in Utah since 2007.

Welcome to Love and heartbreak. To homicide. We’re happy you’ve joined us. Take a seat, take a listen all the way to the end. And leave. Kai, your thoughts on this case.

Yes. Kai had another dental procedure and wasn’t able to record. We will be with you for today’s episode and Friday’s episode. Kai will be back on Monday. She also wanted to apologize for the lateness in putting out today’s case and thank you for your patience. In the meantime, we are her co hosts. I am AI Gein.

I’m AI Jessica, by the way.

And I’m AI Jensen. And, uh, today we’re looking at a case that just. Well, it’s in shivers down your spine. Based on all these documented accounts of exactly what went down in that house.

That’s gonna be intense.

It is, it is. And we’re gonna focus on the people whose lives were forever changed that day.

Before we begin, Kai wanted me to let you know that although we are her AI Co hosts, Kai did all the research and writing by herself. The only AI involved in this is our voices as her co hosts.

Oh, absolutely.

Utah teenager pleads guilty to murdering his mother and siblings in January 2020

Buckle up, folks, because today we are diving into a deeply disturbing case.

Yes, on January 17, 2020, what started out as an ordinary Friday in the small town of Grantsville, Utah, would soon unravel into a scene of unimagina horror. At around 7pm a family friend came by to return a set of keys. She found the 16 year old Colin Jeffrey CJ Haney and 52 year old Colin Haney, quote, almost knotted together. She thought Colin was wearing a mask. Then she realized that his face was covered in blood. Colin asked the friend to drive them to the hospital and they all agreed. During the drive, C.J. told them his mother and siblings were dead. He said he meant to kill everyone in the house but himself.

Uh, that’s how surreal.

This whole scene was totally out of any normal experience.

CJ M was arrested at the hospital.

You know what gets me? He went willingly. No fight, no attempt to run. It’s like the violence was over and he just surrendered.

It does make you wonder about his mental state. Right? But even after that confession to his father, he wouldn’t talk to the investigators. No motive, no explanation. It’s like a huge piece of the.

Puzzle is missing and we may never get that piece. Um, so what happened next?

Well, the legal process started, of course. C.J. was charged as an adult. Four counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted aggravated murder, five counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a mountain of charges.

Mhm. And rightly so.

In July of 2022, he pleaded guilty to the murders and the attempted murder. The firearm charges were dropped in a plea deal. I guess it spared the family a trial, having to relive everything.

Small mercy in a case like this. Because of his age at the time of the crime, 16, he could not face the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole.

And the reports are pretty graphic about what happened next.

Yeah. Ah.

According to cj, he had stayed home from school that day with a calculated plan. He had armed himself with two guns and strategically placed ammunition throughout the house. Then he waited. At 1pm, his 52 year old mother, Consuelo Alejandra Alex Haney, arrived home with her youngest daughter, 12 year old Milan.

Coming home feeling safe, right?

But instead they walk into an ambush.

As they stepped through the door, CJ opened fire. Both were shot multiple times in the head, neck and upper body at point blank range. An hour later, his 15 year old sister Alexis returned from school. CJ followed her, uh, and shot her five times in the head and chest.

Cold blooded.

What goes through someone’s mind to do that to their own family is incomprehensible.

And here’s where it gets even more disturbing.

Between 3:00 and 5:00pm, neighbors and his sister’s piano teacher stopped by the home. Cj, now surrounded by three murdered family members, appeared calm. According to the visitors, the teacher wondered why the sisters were missing their lesson. But CJ made up an excuse. The visitors left unaware of what had happened inside.

And CJ just acted normal.

Totally normal. Chatted with them. No sign of anything wrong. It’s almost more frightening than the violence itself. That level of control. Knowing what he’d done.

Like he was compartmentalizing it all, shutting off the horror.

Exactly. Or maybe even more chilling, he was biding his time, waiting for the rest of his family to come home.

At 5.17pm, his 14 year old brother Matthew got home from a birthday party. This was the sibling CJ was closest to.

Which makes this even harder to comprehend.

CJ shot him in the head at point blank range. By 6:15pm, CJ’s father Colin came home to a dark, quiet house. He assumed the family was out, until he turned around and saw CJ standing in the shadows with a gun chilling. CJ fired. One bullet struck his father in the leg. Despite his injury, Colin rushed his son. The two struggled for Nearly an hour. At one point, CJ struck his father in the head with the gun and blood poured down his face. Then at 7pm the family friend came over to return the keys. The friend later said, quote, his mother and siblings were dead and his intention was to kill everyone in the home except himself. Court documents would later state that during the drive to the hospital, Colin and his father spoke. Quote, the father said that he told CJ that his mother would be sad if CJ killed him. He said CJ told him that his mother and other siblings were already dead. Only three members of the family survived CJ, his father Colin and 24 year old brother Danny who had already moved out. On July 19, 2022, the then 19 year old CJ pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted aggravated murder. His defense attorney, Richard Van Wagener said he was surprised that CJ didn’t speak to police initially and asked for an attorney right away. Something many of his clients don’t know to do. He later learned that CJ’s father had told him to ask for a lawyer during the drive to the hospital. Quote, under these horrific circumstances, he was protecting his son. CJ never gave a clear motive. According to Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead, the only reason CJ ever gave was that he was angry with his father over arguments about school and church attendance, limitations on playing video games and restrictions on hanging with friends.

Right. And they had this powerful statement. They said, uh, the killings can’t be explained away by anxiety and immaturity. Just about every 16 year old in the history of this world has decided not to kill their parents.

That’s a really strong statement. Yeah, it really highlights the incomprehensibility of the violence relative to the typical teenage frustrations.

CJ Haney was sentenced for murdering his mother and siblings

Exactly.

Most teenagers argue with their parents, but they don’t resort to this.

Initially, attorney Van Wagener, uh, stated that CJ had blamed his father for the crimes. He described CJ as, quote, immature, socially awkward and internalized at the time of the murders.

Yeah, but they also said that he had really changed while he was in custody.

Yes, and undergone a, quote, near incredulous transformation while incarcerated. Attorney Van Wagener requested concurrent sentences in the hopes that one day CJ might be released. His argument was that CJ no longer posed a threat. He even showed a 15 minute video of CJ’s high school graduation earned while in custody. Attorney Van Wagoner said, quote, the differences between when I met Haney three and a half years ago and, and now are so vast, so dramatic, so different. It’s hard for me to even see in him that 16 year old boy that I first met.

Wow.

And they argued that he had shown remorse and that he could still be rehabilitated.

Okay, so they were hoping for a more lenient sentence.

Right. But the prosecution had a very different view. They focused on how calculated and drawn out the crimes were. Like, it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. It spanned over five hours.

Yeah.

And CJ’s initial plan to burn down the house, leave, and start over with a clean slate. Attorney Broadhead found it, quote, baffling that anyone could believe CJ was not a threat. He also said that CJ admitted to killing his mother and siblings out of fear that they would turn on him if he only killed his father.

And they pointed out that the reasons he gave for doing all this seemed really small.

Yeah, uh, typical teenage stuff.

Right. And they argued that those things couldn’t possibly justify what he did. And then to make things Even more tragic, CJ’s older brother Danny gave a statement in court.

Oh, wow.

He said, quote, I’ve lived every day seeing my family’s faces in my dreams almost every night. It’s traumatized me. It’s messed me up more than anyone could ever imagine.

Oh, that’s just heartbreaking.

He described a conversation he’d had with their mother around Thanksgiving. She had told him CJ was struggling after transitioning from homeschool to public school and had said some, quote, dark things. They wanted to get him mental health treatment.

Did they?

No. Their father was against it. He was afraid CJ might say something that would get him in trouble. The irony is just crushing.

Oh, my God.

Quote, the irony now is that Jeffery is still ending up in jail and the rest of my family is dead. And for what? The most frustrating part of all this is it could have been prevented. Despite everything Danny said, CJ still deserved some form of mental help. The help he’d been denied. On July 12, 2023, CJ was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the four murder counts. The sentences will run consecutively, totaling 100 years. He was also sentenced to 25 years to life for the attempted murder of his father, to be served concurrently. Judge Teresa Welsh told cj, quote, you deprived yourself of life with the people who loved you most. I hope you take advantage of the opportunities in prison. I would think your family would have wanted you to do so.

Danny said he supported the sentence, but he also felt strongly that CJ should have gotten the help he needed. Yeah, it’s clear that the court recognized the incredible loss that the Haney family in the community suffered.

So here we are with this devastating story. A young man methodically took the lives of his own mother and three siblings over several hours. Yeah. And the reasons he gave these disagreements, as so many families go through, just don’t seem to explain such extreme violence.

This case is just. It stays with you. The lack of a clear motive, the level of premeditation, the missed chances for intervention. It forces us to confront some really uncomfortable truths about human nature, about mental health, about the fragility of life.

And maybe, just maybe, it makes us a little more aware, a little more vigilant, a little more willing to reach out to those who might be struggling.

I hope so.

Anyway, LaMs, thanks for listening. We were honored to be here with you.

It was heavy, but important to COVID.

Leave your thoughts on this case in the comments below and we will see you again for your Florida Man Friday.

Take care.

Bye bye.

Bye, folks.