In the quiet town of Thompson Falls, Montana, a shadow fell over the summer of 1982, forever marking the date of July 2nd with a tragic event. On that day, 16-year-old Robert George Sexton, a young man with his life ahead of him, was killed. His death was not an isolated incident but part of a devastating familicide that claimed the lives of four other family members.
The violence of that day also took Robert's older sister, 18-year-old Deborah Kay Sexton, and his younger brother, 8-year-old Michael Duval Sexton. Their mother, Linda Kay Cunningham Sexton, who was 39, and their maternal grandmother, 65-year-old Frances Dorthy Cook Cunningham, also lost their lives in the brutal sequence of events.
The family was torn apart in an act of violence that shook the small community.
Investigations into the multiple deaths revealed a grim truth. The person responsible was Loxley Sexton, the 47-year-old patriarch of the family. After fatally shooting his estranged wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law, Loxley Sexton then turned the gun on himself, ending his own life. This act of murder-suicide left no room for arrests or the naming of further suspects, closing the case with a final, tragic chapter.
