New texts reveal a broken marriage between a Minnesota couple, just minutes before the husband killed his wife and young daughter and then took his own life in a shocking murder-suicide Wednesday.
Nathan Brown, 41, stabbed his wife, Kristen Brown, 41, and his daughter, Evie, 7, to death with a screwdriver as a parent — who witnessed the heinous act — was dropping off their child at the family’s in-home daycare in Hopkins, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Kristen Brown texted a friend around 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday that things “were crazy” with her marriage and that she planned to shut down her Brown Bear Childcare business on Aug. 27, according to the Daily Mail.
The daycare had been operating out of the Browns’ home, which Nathan owned — and Kristen was planning to leave her husband imminently.
But just 20 minutes after texting her friend of her husband’s erratic behavior, a parent arrived at the daycare and shockingly caught sight of the nightmarish stabbing spree, Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said.
The identities of Nathan Brown and his victims were confirmed by Kristen’s sister, Kelly Jo Simons, to the Star Tribune.
The witness heard children screaming and walked in the entrance to find Nathan Brown stabbing his wife and daughter.
The parent quickly grabbed his own children and two others before calling 911.
By the time police arrived, Nathan Brown had killed himself — he was found on the upper floor of the house from a gunshot wound to the head.
Six other children present in the daycare were removed and reunited with their families, the outlet reported.
Three hours after the gruesome attack, a relative alerted police that Alice Brown, 78, had been stabbed to death in her Burnsville home by Nathan Brown, according to the Star Tribune.
It was believed that Nathan was living with his mother at the time of the murders.
Johnson said he hopes to find evidence that points to a specific motive for the murder spree “but right now we don’t have that.”
“This is an extremely tragic event for Hopkins and for any community,” he said at a press conference.
“The victims are all valued members of the Hopkins community. Any event involving the loss of life is a difficult process, but when children are involved, it’s especially devastating.”
Kristen Brown reportedly loved working with children and knew she wanted to work in childcare after having a daughter of her own, according to the Daily Mail.
“I plan to take all the skills that I have learned in my journey and use them help my daughter and those children (who will hopefully become life-long friends) blossom into happy, intelligent, caring individuals,” she wrote on Facebook in 2019.
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