THE husband of a mom who executed three of her children and seriously injured a fourth before shooting herself in the head has now come to her defense. Tranyelle Harshman, 32, died after killing her girls on Monday, and her husband, Cliff Harshman, gave an emotional plea for understanding, saying she was "not a monster.". "This is so out of character. It's unbelievable what had happened," he told Cowboy State Daily while weeping.
![[Family sledding in the snow.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/615c5dc1-41af-4225-bd1f-e141fe29402c.jpg?strip=all&w=777)
"We'd been getting her help, and along the way, something didn't work. "My wife was not a monster.". Tranyelle, 32, called 911 to report that her four daughters had been shot in their home in the town of Byron, Wyoming, about 75 miles east of Yellowstone National Park. The mom told the dispatcher exactly where to find the girls' bodies before abruptly hanging up and turning the gun on herself. The dispatcher tried to keep her on the phone, but Tranyelle told them it was "too late.".
![[Photo of Tranyelle Harshman.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/3d22bfa7-6b7c-495f-830f-c5a1c9223303.jpg?strip=all&w=693)
When Big Horn County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived, they found her oldest daughter, Brailey, 9, and two younger girls, who are 2 and 3, had been killed. Another 7-year-old girl had traumatic brain injuries and was flown to a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she's fighting for her life. Tranyelle, meanwhile, was taken to a hospital in Billings, Montana, where she died on Tuesday afternoon. County Sheriff's Deputy Keri Angell, one of the first to enter the house, broke down in tears as she described witnessing the horrific sight.
![[Man holding up two young girls upside down.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/cliff-harshman-mother-of-four-971678781.jpg?strip=all&w=514)
"Seventeen years at the sheriff's office and working crime scenes, and you don't ever expect something like this," she told CBS affiliate KRTV. Cliff was Tranyelle's second husband, and they shared her two youngest children together. After her death, he opened up about her mental health struggles and revealed that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and post-partum depression. He said the family was trying to get her help when she did the unthinkable.
![[Headshot of Tranyelle Harshman.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/tranyelle-harshman-mother-of-four-971687512.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"Most people don't understand how that affects the brain. It's a chemical imbalance," he said. "And it can be exacerbated by trying to fix it with medication.". Cliff said that Tranyelle and the girls were home from school on Monday because they had the flu. He was in Southern California for work when he got the dark news but flew back fast enough to tell Tranyelle goodbye. Cliff is living in a hotel while he fervently prays for Tranyelle's daughter's recovery and sorts through funeral arrangements.
![[Deputy Keri Angell of the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/mother-of-four-executed-three-971687516.jpg?strip=all&w=609)
He said he feels angry with Tranyelle but is still mourning her loss. "As angry as I may be with her, I still love her - and I still lost her as well," he said. The U.S. Sun reached out to the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office, and they confirmed they are still actively investigating the murder-suicide. Tranyelle's killings come just over two years after Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mom, allegedly killed her three children under eerily similar circumstances and shined a national spotlight on struggles with post-partum depression.
![[A snow-covered house with a truck and Jeep parked in the driveway.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/mum-executes-three-daughters-shooting-971484658_5d0634.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Prosecutors believe she strangled little Cora, five, Dawson, three, and seven-month-old baby Callan with exercise bands before throwing herself from her home's second-floor window. She was discovered by her husband Patrick and survived the horror incident, but is now paralyzed from the waist down. A defense attorney for Clancy cited "mental illness" and a cocktail of prescriptions that allegedly exacerbated her symptoms as the cause behind the horrific crime.
![[A man and three young girls in snowy weather, holding a red sled.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/quinn-blackmer-mother-of-four-971681271.jpg?strip=all&w=512)
Patrick also admitted that his wife was struggling mentally and revealed that he had forgiven her in a bombshell interview in October. "I wasn't married to a monster - I was married to someone who got sick," he told The New Yorker. More to follow... For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
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