Tragic Turn: Florida Man Kills Washington Mom and Her 3 Children After Promise to Protect Them

Renee Flaherty worked hard to take care of her three kids.

She worked hard to feed her kids and put food on the table even when there wasn’t “much on the shelves,” according to her brother Wesley Elmore.

“Her children came first. Elmore said, “She fed and cared for her kids.”

After that, Flaherty met Jeffrey Hutchinson. He was a war hero on paper because he had been a U.S. Army Ranger in the Gulf War. He would kill Flaherty and the kids, Geoffrey (9 years old), Amanda (7 years old), and Logan (4 years old).

After more than 20 years, Hutchinson is going to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday for the killings in Florida. Look back at who Flaherty and her children were to help remember their lives as he spends his last hours.

A broken promise

Soon before Thanksgiving 1997, Elmore saw his sister for the last time. He thought the family was in “good hands” with Hutchinson as they got ready to move to Florida.

“I was giving Renee and the kids a hug and everything, goodbyes,” he said. “I remember shaking Jeff’s hand and I said, ‘Take care of my sister and her kids,’ And he says, ‘Wes, I promise I will.'”

After several months, Flaherty, 32, and her children were found dead in their home. Hutchinson, on the other hand, was covered in blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, according to court papers.

Hutchinson, 62, was found guilty of shooting and killing the family of four.

Renee Flaherty, a tomboy who helped her feel better,

Elmore said that his sister was a tomboy who was tough because she grew up with three boys.

“When we were kids, we liked to ski.” It was just her and me. Elmore said, “She would fall and laugh.” “She’s my little sister, but it’s kind of like hanging out with just another buddy.”

Around the same time that Flaherty and her husband split up, Elmore also got divorced. Elmore said that she helped him get through the rough times.

He said, “It was hard, but she was my rock.” “Growing up she was always person who I could always talk to and confide with.”

Elmore remembered a time when his son and Flaherty’s 9-year-old son Geoffrey tried to take the heads off of Flaherty’s 7-year-old daughter Amanda’s Barbie dolls in a very stereotypical way. “They thought it was funny and Renee was just furious at both the boys … they were kids, just mischievous.”

As for Flaherty’s 4-year-old son Logan, he knew how to make the most of their 5-acre home in eastern Washington.

“There were times where Logan would be walking around just, you know, an underwear and a pair of rubber boots, (Renee was) like, ‘you know, I dressed him early this morning, so he had clothes on.'”

Elmore said that the kids never got to become people, and he feels bad about the important things they never got to do.

“Logan was only 4, and he didn’t get chance to even start school, you know,” he said. “Geoffrey and Amanda, they didn’t even get to finish elementary school.” A lot of things were taken from them.

What happened to Renee Flaherty and her children?

Court records show that Hutchinson fought with Flaherty on the night of September 11, 1998. He then put some of his clothes and guns in his truck and went to a bar.

According to court records, the bartender said that Hutchinson told him that Flaherty was mad at him, and other witnesses said that he drove dangerously as he left.

After that, Hutchinson went back to the house, “busted down” the front door, and shot Flaherty, Amanda, and Logan in the master bedroom, according to court papers and testimony from a forensic pathologist. Last but not least, Hutchinson shot Geoffrey in the chest and then the head. The kid “saw the bodies of his mother, sister, and brother.”

The judge who heard Hutchinson’s case told the Associated Press, “The terror that person felt at that moment is beyond our understanding.”

There was a police dispatcher who heard Hutchinson say, “I just shot my family.” Since then, Hutchinson has said that the family was killed in a fight between two outsiders who broke into the house.

The Army veteran was labeled with Gulf War Syndrome, but the judge in the case said he was fit to stand trial.

Executive head of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and liaison for Hutchinson’s legal team, Maria DeLiberato, said that there are serious doubts about Hutchinson’s fitness to be put to death.

“There should be a pause to have a full and fair and complete hearing to determine the significance of his long-standing mental illness and brain damage and how that impacted him back then, at the time of trial, his sentencing, and how it impacts his ability to proceed with this execution,” he said.

With the killing, Brother gets justice, but not peace of mind.

If the killing happens, Elmore and his brother Darran will be there to see it. He said that he thinks Hutchinson is “getting off easy” because the killings were so violent.

It’s been a long time coming… I’m glad that things are happening now because time is running out for him. It’s the law.”

His words are similar to what Renee and Wesley’s mother, Melva Elmore, said after the sentence in 2001. “The truth has won out.” A report from the Tampa Bay Times says Melva said at the time, “He knew what he was doing.”

Elmore said he doesn’t think the execution will help him move on with his life.

“People who don’t walk in my shoes, they don’t understand that closure, you never get it,” he said. “But at least I know that part of this chapter my life is over with now, because justice finally served.”

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