A father who shot his wife, her mother and their five children before turning the gun on himself had been investigated for child abuse two years earlier - but police decided not to charge him. 

Michael Haight, 42, is accused of the murders of his wife, Tausha, 40, and their five children, who ranged in age from 4 to 17, and his mother-in-law Gail Earl, on January 4 in the small town of Enoch in Utah. 

In an update last week, Enoch Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said police were still investigating the killings - while revealing Tausha Haight had filed for divorce from her husband of 20 years on December 21, exactly two weeks before the murders. 

New records released on Tuesday show that Haight had displayed a violent pattern of behavior towards his family for years - as his eldest daughter Macie detailed multiple assaults.  

Haight’s five children - daughters Macie, Briley, Sienna, and sons Ammon and Gavin - were all discovered by police the morning after the murders with fatal gunshot wounds. 

Not far from their bodies was Mormon insurance agent Haight, who police believe carried out the killing spree before turning the gun on himself. 

In a 2020 interview with authorities, Macie Haight, the family's eldest daughter, said she was repeatedly assaulted, including being choked by her father and 'very afraid that he was going to keep her from breathing and kill her'.

The child abuse investigation followed a police call from a non-family member reporting potential child abuse in August 2020. 

Macie, then 14, told investigators that her father's violence started in 2017 and had included choking and shaking, including a recent incident where he grabbed her by the shoulders and banged her into a wooden piece along the back of the couch.

In his interview with investigators, Haight denied assaulting his daughter and said the report was a misunderstanding. 

He said Macie was 'mouthy' and admitted to getting angry, attributing some struggles to his father's death and brother's divorce.

The investigator's notes also shed light on Haight's treatment of his wife, Tausha Haight. 

Macie told investigators that her father would often belittle her mother, a charge he denied. 

In his interview, however, Michael Haight said he had taken his wife's iPad and cellphone to surveil her text messages to check if she had spoken negatively about his family.

Tausha Haight told authorities she didn't want criminal charges filed against her husband and hoped the incident would be 'a wake-up call' for him.

Though an investigator told Michael Haight that his behavior was 'close to assaultive,' Enoch Police and the Iron County Attorney decided not to file criminal charges against him.

The murder-suicide this month has rocked Enoch, an 8,000-person, southern Utah town on the outskirts of Cedar City where neighbors and members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints described the Haights as a loving family.

An account from a friend of the family on social media offered some potential insight on the father-of-five's allegedly unstable mindset in the buildup to the murders, as well as his abusive behavior.

'He was a two-faced abusive monster,' the post circulating on social media from a friend of the family reads.

'My brother and sis-in-law were good friends with them for years. My brother said he was controlling, manipulative, and mentally abusive for years but no one knew how bad until recently.

'He would demand she have dinner on the table ready when he got home. No one ate until he took the first bite.

'If she was preparing dinner and he would call and say he wanted something else, she had to start over.

'Once he was late coming home so she let the kids start eating. When he got home and saw them eating without him- he threw all the food on the floor and made her start dinner all over again.'

The post, which was reshared by several people close to the family, insisted that Haight 'controlled' his wife's friendships, and that days before her murder, Tausha missed an appointment with a women's crisis center.

'She was in the process of finally working to get herself and the kids away from him when he did this,' the account further asserted.

An obituary published in the St. George Spectrum last week described Michael Haight in glowing terms as an Eagle Scout, businessman and father who 'made it a point to spend quality time with each and every one of his children.' 

The obituary made no mention of the killings and was taken offline after backlash.

It described how Haight was born on January 7, 1980 in Seattle, and moved to Cedar City, Utah, with his family as a small child.

It said how in his youth, Haight 'loved spending time participating in city league baseball, basketball, soccer, various outdoor and scouting activities,' and touted how the septuple-murder suspect 'achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.'

The eulogy went on to assert Haight 'excelled at everything he did' and revealed that, as a Mormon, he went on a mission to Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

According to the penned piece, Haight 'loved the people he met on his mission and had many fond memories of his time spent there.'

The obituary said he went on to marry Tausha in 2003 while the two had been attending Southern Utah University, before graduating with a Bachelor's degree in 2004.

Haight is survived by his mother Brenda, two brothers, one sister and his maternal grandparents. 

Police believe Haight, 42, carried out the shootings two weeks after his wife had filed for divorce and just days after Tausha's sister Jennie Earl said he took guns from the house that could have been used to stop him.

Enoch Police didn't respond on Tuesday to a request for comment about why charges were not filed regarding the abuse allegations. 

The Iron County Attorney's office said in a statement on Tuesday that their office had been called in 2020 and determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges against Haight.

'Although specifics are not articulated, this conclusion was likely based on an inability to prove each element of the offense(s) beyond reasonable doubt and/or statute of limitations barriers,' the statement said.

It added that prosecutors were not sent interview transcripts or police reports from the Enoch Police to review.

Matt Munson, the attorney representing Michael Haight's family, was not immediately available to comment.

Police found the Haight family's bodies after conducting a welfare check based on a call from a friend who said Tausha Haight had missed an appointment earlier in the week.

Officials said last week that law enforcement is continuing to investigate the Haight family deaths. 

The murder-suicide drew national attention and words of condolence from Utah officials and President Joe Biden. 

In a statement, the White House called the slayings 'tragic' and commented on how it had occurred 'less than one month' after the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. 

It underscored how family mass killings have become a disturbingly common tragedy across the United States, occurring on average every 3.5 weeks for the last two decades.