A retired sergeant and his former deputy police chief wife were allegedly experiencing marital issues before he killed his wife and their adult daughter in a murder-suicide, according to a friend.
Kevin Mannix killed his wife, Ann Mannix, and their daughter Katie Mannix at their home in California’s Marin County on the evening of Sunday, October 11, before he died by suicide.
As the incident unfolded, the couple’s older daughter hid in a bedroom. She called 911 around 5 p.m. after hearing gunshots, reporting to police that her father had been drinking red wine.
Following the tragedy, a close family friend who had known Ann, 65, for more than 60 years told the California Post that she previously admitted to experiencing difficulties in her marriage to Kevin, 68.
“We talked about her relationship with her husband,” the friend said. “It wasn’t great.”
Despite their issues, the friend said that Ann and Kevin were not estranged at the time of their deaths.
The friend – who met Ann when they were 5 years old when they lived across the street from each other in San Francisco’s Richmond District – said she was in shock following the tragedy. She added that Ann was “a wonderful mother” who had “high hopes of being a grandmother soon.”
She also said that Ann “was a friend to everybody.”
The friend also opened up about Katie, 24, who was studying to become a nurse. “Katie was fun, silly, the life of the party,” the friend said.
Meanwhile, retired captain Alexa O’Brien, who worked with both Ann and Kevin, said that Kevin was a quiet and mild-mannered man who she never believed would be capable of a murder-suicide.
“He was very, I don’t know how to say it, but vanilla,” O’Brien told the outlet. “They were an interesting couple. She had to be like six inches taller than him, and he was little. If anybody was to look at a tough person, you’d look at Ann as the tough one. That’s just how I viewed them.”
O’Brien went on to share that Ann was much less reserved than her husband. Throughout her career, she rose through the ranks of the San Francisco Police Department and eventually became deputy chief.
“He’s not a Type A personality kind of guy,” O’Brien said of Kevin. “When he would talk to us police officers, or if I took a class and he spoke in the class, there wasn’t anything that would strike me or give me any indication he would ever do this.”
Another former colleague added that Kevin had “a good, easy temperament.”
Authorities learned of the killings when deputies were dispatched to the family’s home around 5:03 p.m. after they received a call about reported gunfire.
Officers arrived within minutes of the call and contacted the caller, who left the home before police arrived. Authorities secured the perimeter of the house before they entered and found Kevin, Ann and Katie dead.
It is not currently clear if authorities believe Kevin had a motive in the killings.
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