On January 17th 2020, 16-year-old Colin Jeffrey “CJ” Haynie stayed home from school. He readied two guns then waited for his family to arrive.

The timeline of events:

• 1:00 p.m: Mother Consuelo Alejandra “Alex” Haynie, 52, arrived home from picking up her 12-year-old daughter Milan. The two were shot as they entered the home. They were shot multiple times in their heads, necks, and upper bodies at point blank range.

• 2:00 p.m: 15-year-old Alexis Haynie arrived home from school, he followed her and fired five shots into her head and chest.

• Sometime between 3:00-5:00 p.m: Two neighbors came by as CJ waited for his remaining family members to return home, including his sisters’ piano teacher who was worried when they didn’t attend lessons that day. Both said CJ appeared normal.

• 5:17 p.m: Matthew Haynie, 14, returned home from birthday party. The brothers were particurlarly close. The defendant shot the 14-year-old once in the head at point blank range.

• 6:15 p.m: The father, Colin Haynie, arrived home to a dark house and thought his family must not be home. Then he turned and saw CJ standing in the dark, raising a gun, and the older man “rushed” him. CJ fired multiple rounds, but only one hit his father — in the leg. A struggle ensued for about an hour as the father tried to defuse the situation and get the gun away from his son. CJ hit his father in the head with the gun and blood rushed down his face.

• 7:00 p.m: Eventually, a neighbor arrived at the home to return some keys and found the two “almost knotted together.” She thought Colin Haynie was wearing a mask, but soon learned his face was covered in blood. They all agreed to go to the hospital, where Colin Haynie was treated and his son was taken into police custody. He reportedly told police in an interview that CJ Haynie told him “his mother and siblings were dead and his intention was to kill everyone in the home except himself.”

The only remaining members of the family were CJ, his father Colin and 24-year-old brother Danny who had moved out prior to the murders.

The incident was Grantsville’s first homicide in nearly 20 years. CJ’s defense attorney, Richard Van Wagoner, was struck by the fact that the defendant refused to speak with police during initial questioning without an attorney present. 

He said most of his clients don’t know to ask for an attorney. He later learned this advice came from CJ’s father, relayed to the boy as they were driving to the hospital. “Under these horrific circumstances,” Van Wagoner said, “he was protecting his son.”

Colin Jeffrey Haynie was charged with 4 counts of aggravated murder, 1 count of attempted murder and 5 counts of felony discharge of a firearm. He was charged as an adult. He pleaded guilty to the charges.

His defense attorney asked that CJ receive concurrent sentences, giving him a chance to one day be released from prison. He said that while CJ initially blamed his father for the crimes and was “immature, socially awkward and internalized,” he has since taken responsibility and made a “near miraculous transformation” to better understand and manage his emotions, and wouldn’t pose a threat if released. 

He noted that CJ had earned his high school diploma while incarcerated, and played a 15-minute video of the graduation ceremony for the court.

Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead said it was baffling that someone could conclude Haynie wasn’t, or wouldn’t be, a threat. Broadhead said that Haynie hatched a plan to systematically kill each of his family members, burn down their house and flee with a “clean slate.”

Broadhead said that Haynie’s only explanation for the murders was that Haynie was angry at his father because of conflicts over his school and church attendance, or being restricted from hanging out with friends or playing video games — arguments teenagers and parents have “all the time”. 

“[The killings] can’t be explained away by anxiety and immaturity,” Broadhead said. “Just about every 16-year-old in the history of this world has decided not to kill their parents.” He added that Haynie had explained that he killed his mother and siblings because he feared his family would turn on him if he only killed his father, Colin Haynie.

At the sentencing CJ’s older brother Danny made a statement. He told the court that the killings had traumatized him, playing on the innate fear that somehow one’s entire family will be taken from them without notice or reason.

But he said “the most frustrating part of all this” is it could have been prevented. He recalled a conversation with his mom around Thanksgiving, where she mentioned that CJ was having a rough transition from homeschool to public school and had said some “dark things” that made them consider getting him mental health treatment. Danny Haynie said the boy’s father didn’t allow it to happen, worried CJ might say something that would get himself into trouble.

“The irony now is that Jeffrey is still ending up in jail and the rest of my family is dead,” he said, “and for what?”

Danny continued, “I’ve lived every day seeing my family’s faces in my dreams almost every night.… It’s traumatized me. It’s messed me up more than anyone could ever imagine. I support fully whatever sentencing happens … but he still deserves some semblance of mental help that was denied to him before.”

Colin Jeffrey Haynie was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the murder counts. Each of those sentences will run consecutively, totaling up to 100 years in prison. He was also sentenced to 25 years to life for the attempted murder count, to run concurrently.

What a horrific and tragic story. 

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