{"id":370770,"date":"2026-08-13T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370770\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:44:10","slug":"florida-mom-argued-with-husband-over-porn-before-killing-grandma-and-her-two-kids-in-murder-suicide-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370770\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida mom argued with husband over porn before killing grandma and her two kids in murder-suicide: cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Florida mom who killed her own mother<\/a> and two of her kids before turning the gun on herself had argued with her husband about porn on his phone in the days before the slayings, cops said.<\/p>\n

Hailey Dempsey, 27, shot her mom, Valerie DeBoe, in the early hours of May 3 at her home in Plant City, in the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n

She then fled on foot with her three young daughters before killing her 4-year-old and 4-month-old daughters \u2014 and shooting at 2-year-old daughter but missing. She then turned the gun on herself.<\/p>\n

Valerie DeBoe and Kelsey Dempsey. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Plant City Police Chief Richard Mills revealed Thursday that police had responded to the Dempseys\u2019 home three times in the two days before the shootings.<\/p>\n

The first call on Friday, May 1, was related to a \u201cverbal confrontation\u201d over porn that Dempsey had allegedly found on her husband Jay\u2019s cell phone, the police chief said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t cheating or anything like that, evidently it was just porn, and they were having an argument over that,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI think that\u2019s what everything stemmed from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hailey Megan Dempsey with Belle and Kelsey Dempsey. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Mills said the officer who showed up spoke with the couple and there was \u201cno indication whatsoever\u201d that there had been any violence or criminal behavior involved. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Later that same day, cops received another call because Dempsey wanted cops to check if there was a tracking device on her car \u2013\u2013 but nothing was found.<\/p>\n

Dempsey left the property with the kids and her 55-year-old mom \u2013\u2013 who was visiting from Clearwater \u2013\u2013 and they stayed at a hotel overnight.<\/p>\n

The following day cops received another call to accompany them back to the family home to pick up clothing while her husband was away from the house. the police chief said.<\/p>\n

Mills said there were \u201cindications of some mental illness involved with the case.\u201d WFTS<\/p>\n

Mills added that there was some evidence that the couple had met up at a local library and had a \u201cone-on-one\u201d conversation after Dempsey had returned home to pick up the clothing.<\/p>\n

Dempsey\u2019s husband was detained following the murders, but after his potential involvement was \u201cthoroughly investigated\u201d he was ruled out as a suspect and never arrested or charged.<\/p>\n

Mills said there were \u201cindications of some mental illness involved with the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The three-month investigation into the horrendous tragedy had\u00a0 \u201crequired patience, diligence and precision\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in law enforcement for 34 years, I was on that scene, and it was probably the worst scene that I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d Mills said, fighting back tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely heartbreaking. the worst thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how the surviving child was doing, he said she is in \u201cgood health\u201d and staying with family.<\/p>\n

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling.<\/p>\n

If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24\/7 National\u00a0Suicide\u00a0Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to\u00a0SuicidePreventionLifeline.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Florida mom who killed her own mother and two of her kids before turning the gun on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,28,30,29,4538,59206,4278],"class_list":["post-370770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-murders","tag-porn","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}