Mother Killed Infant Daughter and Husband Then Herself, Police Say

A Missouri mother is believed to have been behind the double-murder-suicide that left herself, her husband, and their 3-month-old daughter dead.

Police in St. Louis, Missouri believe that Mary Jo Trokey, 32, is responsible for the shooting that left her husband, 33-year-old Matthew Trokey, and their 3-month-old daughter, Taylor Rose Trokey, dead, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Mary Jo Trokey also took her own life in the shooting.

Police were first made aware of the crime after a parent of one of the adults discovered their bodies in the family's home on Friday, Feb. 2 at around 3:45 p.m. An initial investigation found no signs of forced entry and nobody else had been home at the time of the shootings, which investigators believe happened sometime during the night. They also claimed that all three bodies were discovered in the same part of the home.

Authorities now believe Mary Jo Trokey to be the shooter and have begun the process of tracking her purchase of a gun in the days just prior to the shooting. They believe that mental illness may be a possible cause.

"Right now, it appears to be a murder-suicide," police Capt. Eric Larson said Friday. "We're used to seeing trauma and violence. What we're not used to seeing is having it occur to innocent victims."

The Trokeys had been attending St. Raphael the Archangel Parish, where they had their daughter baptized in December, in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood for about two years. Rev. Bob Reiker was shocked by the news of their passing, claiming that he hadn't noticed any concerning signs in the days and weeks leading up to the alleged double-murder-suicide.

"It's hard to imagine what happened," Reiker said. "People are baffled by it. It's inexplicable how someone could do this to themselves, let alone their little girl."