New Hampshire murder-suicide: Depressed mother kills husband, two children before taking own life in Madbury; toddler survives

A New Hampshire ‘depressed’ mother fatally shot her husband and two of their children before turning the gun on herself, leaving behind a lone surviving toddler in what investigators are calling a murder-suicide.

As per The New York Post, the victims were identified as Emily Long , 34, her husband Ryan Long , 48, and their two children, Parker, 8, and Ryan , 6.

The family was discovered Monday night inside their home on Moharimet Drive after a 911 call reporting multiple deaths. State Police said the call came in around 8:20 pm (local time).

A handgun was located at the scene, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office confirmed. Officials said the shootings occurred in the early morning hours.

Autopsies revealed that both children died of gunshot wounds to the head, while Ryan Long, a school psychologist at Oyster River Middle School, sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Emily Long’s death was ruled a suicide from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.

A three-year-old child was found alive and unharmed inside the house and is now in the care of relatives.

Emily Long had openly shared her struggles on social media in the weeks before the tragedy. In a TikTok video posted just days earlier, she admitted to being “really depressed” while coping with her husband’s terminal brain cancer diagnosis.

In other videos, since taken down, she also described Ryan’s surgery earlier this year, chemotherapy, and the toll of his physical decline on their children. The final video, posted on Sunday, showed her driving and saying, “Our kids are definitely struggling,” before mentioning a planned get-together with friends that day.

Ryan Long had been battling glioblastoma, a highly aggressive cancer. “I am determined to create normalcy … I’ve been struggling so much and just wanted to be with my kids and my husband,” she said in the clip, according to the New York Post.

Investigators have acknowledged there were ongoing concerns within the household but cautioned against attributing the tragedy to a single cause. “One of the biggest questions they have right now is motive, why?” assistant attorney general Ben Agati was quoted as saying by WCAX, adding that understanding what led to the violence remains difficult.

The killings have rattled Madbury, a rural town of around 2,000 residents near Durham, where Ryan Long worked. “The Oyster River Cooperative School District community is heartbroken by the tragic loss of four community members,” superintendent Dr. Robert Shaps said in a statement.

Neighbours described the Longs as a loving family. “It was a perfect family as far as we knew. It’s just shocking. We didn’t see it coming,” neighbour Bevvy Ketel said, as per WBZ-TV. She recalled her daughter gifting American Girl dolls to six-year-old Ryan and remembered the children selling lemonade to neighbours during the summer.

Community members have since placed flowers outside the family’s home and taken in their two dogs. “I just told a friend of mine it’s the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life,” dogwalker Bill Hall said, as per CBS News.

According to an online biography cited by New Hampshire Public Radio, Ryan Long worked at Oyster River Middle School for nine years and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counselling from the University of New Hampshire.

Emily Long also graduated from UNH with a degree in hospitality management and attended Oyster River High School.

The attorney general’s office emphasised that while the investigation continues, there is no broader threat to the public.