Mother, 2 Children Found Dead Inside Maine Home in Apparent Murder-Suicide

A mother and her two children are dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

On Saturday, July 27, around 3:30 p.m., officers responded to a home in Mechanic Falls, Maine, to check the residence for a U-Haul truck that had been reported stolen after it was not returned, Mechanic Falls Police Chief Jeffrey Goss said in a press release.

At the scene, an officer and a deputy with the Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office tried to make contact with the resident, who was the person who rented the truck, Goss said. During the investigation, police learned that the resident, an adult woman, was dead inside her home. When authorities went inside, they found two children dead.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted autopsies and identified the deceased as 7-year-old Hope West, 11-year-old Harmony West, and 37-year-old Jennifer Barney. Officials determined that the two young girls died as a result of homicide while Barney died by suicide.

The case was turned over to the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit, which is now leading the investigation, Goss said.

According to Goss, an animal control officer was called to the scene after pets were found inside the home. They will be in the care of animal control until “a next-of-kin can be reached and a determination of the pets’ placement can be decided,” Goss said.

Several neighbors in the community told WGME-TV they hadn’t seen the girls, who often played outside, for about two weeks.

On a GoFundMe campaign created to help offset funeral expenses for the children, their uncle said Hope’s 7th birthday was on July 27, the day officers made the grim discovery.

“Harmony and Hope were the best of friends, and we are grateful they had each other in the challenges they faced in their young lives,” fundraiser organizer Dan Parrott wrote. “Our hearts have been shattered by the tragedy of their passing.”

Both girls attended Elm Street School, according to the fundraiser.