Police: Las Vegas dad killed girlfriend, baby just before first birthday in murder-suicide
LAS VEGAS -- Authorities say the Las Vegas baby on the cusp of turning 1 year old was shot in the head by his father in a murder-suicide that also left his mother dead.
The Clark County coroner's office said John Dylan Lunetta was found dead Monday when he was 11 months, 29 days old. His mother, Karen Michelle Jackson, 34, died of multiple gunshot wounds. Their deaths were ruled homicides.
John Henry Lunetta, 40, died of suicide after shooting himself with the gun aimed at his mouth. The senior Lunetta was the medical director for the American Red Cross Blood Services in Las Vegas.
Jackson's mother in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal said her daughter was planning to leave her boyfriend, though she said Jackson rarely talked about their relationship.
Patricia McMullen also said she was proud of her daughter, who was an accomplished woman and wonderful mother who loved her children. Jackson's young daughter wasn't home at the time of the shooting.
"My daughter was a wonderful human being, she was a go-getter," McMullen said. "She had dreams in her life and she accomplished her dreams."
McMullen, who lives in Florida, said she last saw her daughter four years ago and recently messaged with her on Facebook just days before Jackson was found dead. Jackson previously served in the Air Force and was on her way to becoming a family nurse practitioner.
Jackson's friends told CBS affiliate KLAS that she was a devoted mother to baby John. Jackson had another child who wasn't in the home at the time of the shooting, according to KLAS.
One of Jackson's friends says Jackson spoke to him a day before the killing, about being unhappy.
"She was working on getting herself out of the situation," the friend told KLAS. "She decided to move out and get her own place. This guy was verbally abusive and controlling. She never said anything about physical abuse; if so I would have contacted friends to help her out."
A pet golden-doodle dog was also found fatally shot in the family's home in southwest Las Vegas. Police were previously called to the home in December 2016 for a custody issue, but that incident wasn't violent.