Familicide

Familicide

Familicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which a perpetrator kills multiple close family members in quick succession. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-Suicide. If only the parents are killed, the case may also be referred to as a parricide.

About Familicide in brief

Summary FamilicideFamilicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which a perpetrator kills multiple close family members in quick succession, most often children, relatives, spouse, siblings, or parents. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-Suicide. If only the parents are killed, the case may also be referred to as a parricide. Familicides were used as an enhanced punishment in antiquity. Between 1900 and 2000, there were 909 victims of mass murder in the US. Of those, more than half occurred within an immediate family.

Men who murder their entire families usually do so because they believe their spouse performed a wrongdoing and that the spouse needs to be punished. They feel that the family members caused a disappointment, they feel that their own financial failings ruined the point of having a family, and because they wish to save their family from a perceived threat. Far fewer women commit familicide, and those who do usually have different reasons.