Detectives are trying to determine the motive of a young mom who allegedly stabbed her husband and their three-year-old son to death before trying to kill herself this week at a popular family resort lodge in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.
The alleged fatal assault by Metallica Rose Harrison, 27, took place during the family’s getaway at the Great Wolf Lodge, with the mom now charged with stabbing her husband Charles and their toddler, identified by police only as “T.H.,” before she slashed her own wrists and neck, according to authorities and a report by WNEP.
The Harrison case involves yet another young mother charged with violently turning on her own family, one of more than a half dozen publicized before and after the high-profile trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy for murdering her three children by strangulation and blaming postpartum depression.
Clancy’s prosecution on murder charges ended in a mistrial in early September as jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the 36-year-old mother, who is unable to walk after she purportedly attempted suicide by jumping out of an upstairs window.
In the most recent case, Harrison reportedly then called 911 to ask for advice on how to find the right vein to puncture, stating she needed help dying following the alleged fatal attack on her family, authorities said.
“My husband and son are already gone in the bed in the living room,” she reportedly told emergency services, according to a police charging affidavit. “They’re already gone, I’m sorry.”
According to WNEP:
The police entered Room 2030 and found the two victims dead on mattresses, according to an affidavit. Charles Harrison had been stabbed several times in the chest. Their toddler son had one stab wound in his chest.
The police found a butcher knife on the floor of the bathroom and a smaller knife in the bathroom sink. Both had teal green handles, which Great Wolf Lodge told police did not belong to them. The police also found containers with what they think was blood in them and several bottles of medication.
The lodge is located in the mountain district about halfway between Scranton and Allentown and features a pool and an elaborate child play area with decorative slides and other family-oriented amusements.
The family of three had been staying at the resort for some time, according to police, checking in first on September 21 and again on October 5 to extend their stay, authorities said.
“This was a violent domestic tragedy in which two people, a boy and his father, lost their lives,” Monroe County District Attorney Mike Mancuso told reporters.
When asked about a motive, Mancuso said, “That’s one of the most perplexing questions.”
Harrison, who is from the borough Towanda in northeastern Pennsylvania, refused to make a statement to police when they arrived, saying she was “suicidal, not stupid,” according to a report in the New York Post.
The outlet also reported she “went on a bizarre and disturbing rant to EMS as they took her away in an ambulance, according to the affidavit, which included asking first responders how to best take her life for future reference.
“Every day, I work so hard to be the best person, the best mother, the best wife,” Harrison reportedly said to medical emergency crew, according to the charging document.
“It wasn’t supposed to end like this. I was supposed to have my happy family. That’s what I envisioned since I was a child,” she said as first responders took her away.
Harrison was accused of two counts of criminal homicide, and her court appearance is pending.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more,
