This isn't the first time I've written about a family an Iolator, and it likely won't be the last, but this case is different.

There were warning signs. There were red flags. Sadly, there was no one to see them.

No one connected enough to the family to recognize the danger. One of the things that sets this case apart from others where the family is destroyed is that the perpetrator is a woman.

In most family an Iolator cases, more than 90% of them, the killer is a man.

Think about John Lest, Chris Watts, Scott Peterson, the professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, men who murdered their wives and children, destroying the entire family.

Watts, Lest, and Peterson moved on with their lives, but were eventually arrested and tried. Benoit took his own life after murdering his wife and son.

This week's case is similar to that of Benoit, the perpetrator, Lauren Stewart, killed her husband and two adult children over the course of a very long, very disturbing day.

The first victim, her youngest daughter, Bethany, was murdered while sleeping in her bed at the family home.

Before we can talk about the murders, we have to meet the family, set the scene, understand the Stewart family.

So come with me to Valentine's Day 2018, when Lauren Stewart, a mother, model, and aspiring actress, did the unthinkable.

Kiko Harbour is an interesting little waterfront town located about 25 miles north of Detroit.

Kiko is perched just north of the more expensive and exclusive suburbs of Orchard Lake into the field hills, and just west of another small waterfront community, Silden Lake.

Kiko, which means big fish in Ojibwe, has a population of just under 3,000 people, and they live in an area of 0.54 square miles.

While violent crime is more common a couple of miles east in the city of Pontiac, murders in Kiko Harbour are very, very rare.

This is a small city, and this. This is a large and horrific crime.

At the start of 2018, Lauren Stewart and her husband Daniel had been married almost 30 years.

There are two children, Stephen and Bethany were both college educated. Stephen worked with computers and Bethany, a recent graduate of open community college, was interested in graphic design.

The education of the children created quite a bit of tension in the Stewart family. The stewards were practicing Jehovah's Witness.

Sending a child off to college was not looked on favorably by those in their congregation. As Stephen and Bethany grew up, both children were bright, intelligent, and intellectually curious.

They wanted to go to college. They wanted to further their education.

It was the decision of Lauren and Daniel, the choice to send their son to college that led to a final break from the church.

As practicing Jehovah's Witness, their faith was the center of their life. It was a source of religious fulfillment, social outlet, and provided a tangible connection to the extended family.

...