DETROIT _ The family of four children whom police say were killed at the hands of their father _ an ex-con who had murdered before _ is reeling with pain, unable to comprehend how a man could shoot two teenagers in front of their mother and poison their two younger siblings.
Perhaps equally troubling is what he allegedly put the mother through: He bound her with duct tape, cut her face with a box cutter, shot her and then shot the two older children in front of her, police said.
"Words cannot describe the horrific tragedy our family is experiencing over the untimely deaths of Chadney, Kara, Koi, and Kaleigh," the family said in a statement on a GoFundMe site. "There is no way that a mother could fathom laying to rest one child, let alone all four of her children at once."
The case involves Gregory Green, 49, of Dearborn Heights, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder on Thursday for the killings of his two children, Koi, 6, and Kaleigh, 4, along with his stepchildren, Chadney Allen, 19, and Kara Allen, 17. Authorities believe Green poisoned the two younger siblings with carbon monoxide. They were taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
Chadney Allen Sr., the father of the teenage victims, took to Facebook Thursday and expressed his pain and frustration.
"My dreams were murdered. R.I.P. to my son Cj, and daughter Kk, my loves. always remembering you my angels," Allen Sr. wrote in a post. "Love y'all forever. gone too soon. Thanks for all prayers."
The killings happened sometime around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, about one month after Green's wife, Faith Green, filed for divorce. She survived the incident and is recovering in a local hospital. It is not known if she knew about his criminal past.
According to court documents, Green was convicted in 1992 of stabbing his pregnant wife to death with a kitchen knife. He pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison. He served 16 years of his sentence before being paroled in 2008. According to Michigan Department of Corrections officials, Green had been denied parole four times before then, mainly because he failed to show remorse, records show. But he participated in various programs at the prison and stayed out of trouble; he had just one incident while in prison _ a fistfight with a bunk-mate _ and met the criteria for parole, officials said.
Meanwhile, the relatives of his latest alleged victims are trying to plan four funerals while their mother recovers physically and emotionally. They have set up the GoFundMe site seeking donations for burial costs. They write:
"The family is asking for your help to support the actions that need to take place to properly lay to rest the 4 souls who were tragically stolen from our world."
