A foreclosure on an Ohio family’s home unexpectedly became a tragedy last week when the family’s matriarch allegedly shot them and then herself as police arrived to serve the eviction.
The Cain family had lived in the house since 2015 after moving to the state from Connecticut, but in May 2022, the home was foreclosed on by Freedom Mortgage Corporation, according to court filings and the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.
The family’s financial distress eventually led to an eviction, but nothing seemed out of place and Theresa Cain had appeared fully cooperative in the process, Sheriff Steve Leahy said, according to WXIX.
Leahy said they had contacted her and had set the time of eviction for last Monday morning at 10 a.m., and that she was standing on the patio when deputies arrived.
At that point, she quickly went back inside.
One of the deputies saw reason for concern and began knocking on the home’s front and back doors. When no one answered, the deputy entered the home and called out for Theresa.
Leahy said the deputy heard a muffled, “No, no, no, no” and then five quick gunshots – which authorities believe was meant to hold the officers at bay – and then a sixth when she allegedly killed herself.
Deputies moved in and found Theresa Cain and three other members of her family dead.
The bodies of Theresa’s father, 74-year-old William Felton, and her 13-year-old son Ethan were both upstairs with her. Theresa’s husband Steven, 50, was found on a downstairs sofa and was likely her first victim.
Theresa’s daughter Samantha, 20, was also shot but remains alive and in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. A GoFundMe to help with her medical bills was set up by her sorority sisters.
Leahy said all of Theresa Cain’s victims were awake and aware of the danger to their lives, according to the forensic investigation.
The sheriff also said nothing in the house was packed up, leading him to believe Theresa had hid the impending eviction completely from her family and was likely the motive for the killings.
“It is tragic and unnecessary,” Leahy said in response to a question, according to WXIX/Gray News. “‘What can we do to keep this from happening again?’ Well, I’m just not that sure that we can. When people are in crisis, it’s not as easy as just reaching out and saying, ‘I need help.’ They are spiraling. Nothing makes sense.
“What we see here, you can’t make sense of this. Murder is a senseless thing, but then you throw in suicide and the homicide of your family.
It’s all very sad. This lady had been totally cooperative the entire time.”
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