Daryl Keith Holton

 VICTIMS: 4

Just a short story here from Shelbyville, Tenn.

Daryl Holton was kept away from his children by his wife, Crystle Holton, because she said that he was abusive. I think that he probably was, but once she filed for a protective order against him he snapped completely.

Holton picked Crystle Holtons four kids (three of them were to him) up on Nov. 30, 1997. The children thought they were going Christmas shopping. Instead, they stopped by the auto body repair shop where he worked.

At the shop, 4-year-old Kayla, Crystle Holton's daughter by another man, wrote a letter asking Santa Claus to bring her a "Tickle Me Elmo'' doll for Christmas. If you know where most stories go, then I would guess that you know that she didn't get one.

Then Holton shot each child from the back with a Russian-made, semiautomatic assault weapon. He then stacked the bodies on top of one another in the garage, then placed a tarp over the bodies, which is how police found Kayla, Steven, 12; Eric, 6, and Brent, 10.

Holton went looking for his former wife and her boyfriend to finish the job, but being such a pathetic individual he could not find them. Then, for some reason I don't understand at all, he turned himself in to police.

During his trial, his lawyer amusingly argued that Holton was a caring father, it was just that he was severely depressed at the time of the slayings. Police Officers said he told them he was afraid he would never gain custody of the children.

A jury only deliberated one hour in finding Daryl Keith Holton guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. I know that the state were seeking the death penalty, but don't know if they got it or not as I haven't heard any news since he was found guilty.

UPDATE: Daryl was sentenced to death on June 16, 1999. A big thanks to striker@freewwweb.com for that info.
 

MY OPINION

A very gutless murderer. It's not really the killing of the kids that piss's me off, it's the fact that he then chose to turn himself into police instead of taking his own life. I really don't understand this. A real waste. I suppose the only thing that is interesting in the story is that one of the kids had time to write a letter to Santa before he killed them. This would mean that he had time to turn back, but chose not to. So I suppose he did stick to the plan a little. Still a gutless act though.