Arizona mother likely killed her 2 children, then herself, sheriff says

GILBERT, Ariz. — Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff's deputies were investigating an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday after the bodies of a mother and her two children were discovered shot inside their home late Monday.

The mother, Lisa Gerhart, 45, is believed to have shot her 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter with a handgun before shooting herself inside their house, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The Sheriff's Office declined to reveal the names of the children.

A neighbor called the Sheriff's Office at about 9 p.m. Monday to report seeing a running vehicle parked outside with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the inside of the two-story residence through a window, Arpaio said.

"It's a sad situation. Domestic violence is something we have to look into. … It's a big problem facing our county and our country,” Arpaio said. “Many of our deputies, including myself, are married and have children. But we have a job to do; I don’t know if you ever get used to it, but here we’re talking about a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old.

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"Every life is precious, whether you’re 84, or you’re 12 or 2."

Three dead in a quiet neighborhood

Donning protective gear, sheriff’s investigators entered the carbon-monoxide-filled home to discover the children’s bodies upstairs and Gerhart’s in another part of the house.

While details remained scarce, Arpaio said a very slight possibility of an unknown suspect murdering the mother and children still lingers. He said he didn’t know if any other suspects were in mind.

"We're looking at other aspects to make sure we get the correct evidence and conclusion to this sad situation," Arpaio said. “… We’re leaving that little part open just in case someone else could have caused these three deaths. But I think we’re pretty confident it was a murder-suicide.”

The bodies will be examined, and investigators were looking into whether carbon monoxide was being pumped into the house before the suspect shot the children, the sheriff said.

Unknown motive and history

It was unknown if sheriff’s deputies had been called to the house before. The sheriff said he was unaware of a potential history of domestic violence and that the father of the children had separated himself from the home recently.

A motive for the killings is also a mystery.

“Right now, we don’t know why, we can just surmise,” Arpaio said. “We can’t talk to the mother or the two kids; they’re deceased. So we can only speculate why. … It’s very unusual for this type of situation.”

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Neighbor: Gerhart ‘devastated’ when husband left

Wiping tears from her eyes outside her home adjacent to the Gerharts', neighbor Connie Rivere said Gerhart was “devastated” recently when her husband left.

“She was talking to everyone, trying to get people to know she was having problems and that he left her,” Rivere said. “No matter how we talked to her, we thought she would be better off without him.”

Rivere said Gerhart was in bad shape and was horrified to have her husband move out. Rivere said the couple also have a younger daughter, age 5 or 6. Arpaio said he didn't know if they have a third child, but social-media accounts of both husband and wife feature three children.

“It’s horrible. … She didn’t want to live through that,” Rivere said, clasping her hand over her mouth. “There wasn’t anything anybody could do for her."

Republic reporters Claire M Roney and Sydney Greene contributed to this article.

Follow Garrett Mitchell on Twitter: @rettmitch