Many family killers believe they are protecting their victims
Suicide notes in half of these cases reveal a distorted sense of altruism, where the perpetrator views ending their family's lives as a way to spare them from suffering.
When a parent ends the lives of their spouse and children before their own, the act is rarely driven by pure malice. Instead, forensic psychologists often find a phenomenon called distorted altruism, where the killer believes they are performing a rescue. In roughly 50% of these cases, the perpetrator leaves a note explaining that they are 'saving' their family from a world they perceive as cruel or a future ruined by debt and shame. This psychological break usually occurs during a 90-minute window of crisis, often triggered by what experts call stacking stressors like sudden job loss or a looming divorce.
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