Thy Mitchell’s parents accused their daughter’s husband, Matthew Mitchell, of intentionally planning and plotting her murder and those of their two young children after he sank into financial trouble, according to a recent court filing.
According to Houston police, Matthew apparently shot Thy and their children Maya, 8, and Max, 4, before dying by suicide.
Until the May suspected murders-suicide, Thy and Matthew Mitchell ran the globally inspired restaurants Traveler’s Table and Traveler’s Cart, both in Montrose. They were largely regarded as respected restaurateurs, and Thy in particular was heavily involved in supporting other local restaurants.
In a lawsuit, Thy’s parents, Thuy Mai and Lan Huong Tran, alleged Thursday that Matthew planned to kill his family and himself, as reflected in dozens of video clips taken from Ring security cameras inside the Mitchell home in the two weeks before their May 4 deaths.
“Rather than own up to the financial loss and fraud that he had committed, and face the shame that it would bring, he elected to murder his entire family and then kill himself,” according to their lawsuit in a Harris County probate court.
Mai and Tran are seeking damages for wrongful death, punitive damages and the creation of a court-imposed trust over Matthew’s estate. Probate proceedings around the estate are pending.
Mai and Tran’s lawyer declined to give a public comment on the lawsuit.
A week before the apparent murders-suicide, Matthew mumbles aloud, “gotta kill everybody” on one of the Ring camera videos included as an exhibit in the lawsuit and reviewed by the Chronicle. The camera is pointed at a door, and Matthew only appears in frame for a few seconds of the 26-second video.
Later videos reviewed show Matthew continuing to talk out loud, saying he needed to “end it” and he couldn’t “prevent what’s about to happen to us.”
The family’s last day alive was depicted in a scattering of short video clips from the security cameras throughout their home. The videos show that on May 3, Thy left home for brunch and ran an errand at Target to pick up gifts for an upcoming teacher appreciation day. Matthew, apparently alone in the River Oaks area townhome, was seen on camera pacing around the house and muttering to himself.
“I can’t stop it for myself – I can’t stop it for myself,” Mitchell said, according to a 12:24 p.m. video. “I’m in such a deep hole.”
An hour later, he collapsed onto their living room couch and buried his face in his hands.
His family returned around 2:15 p.m. with the gifts and news that his daughter had done well on a recent test.
The children were last seen alive in the videos around 10:15 p.m. as Matthew wrangled them to the bathroom to brush their teeth. A selection of the footage next showed Matthew pacing around the house at 3 a.m. and then 4:30 a.m. He walked into a room described as his wife’s office, stood around and left.
In the last videos shared in the exhibits, his shadow appeared stationary outside the door for several seconds. He returned minutes later, picked up an object from the floor and appeared to set it on a nearby surface.
Thy’s parents are also accusing Matthew’s mother, Bettie Mitchell, of “conspiring” with him to shield funds from “those who might seek to recover them based on likely bankruptcy and the fraud he had previously committed.”
In total, Thy’s parents claimed that $1.4 million from various accounts, which Matthew had an interest in, was transferred into Bettie’s accounts with the help of a relative to hide the extent of their assets ahead of the killings. They also claimed Bettie moved them back to the original accounts after the deaths.
The relative, Matthew’s sister Meredith, was a trustee of one of the accounts and would have needed to sign off on the transfer of funds, the lawsuit said, adding emails from February and March that showed Matthew inquiring about the division of their inheritance in the contingency of his mother’s death.
The Chronicle called and texted a phone number listed for Bettie but did not immediately receive a reply.
Stacy Kelly, the lawyer representing Meredith, said she would “zealously defend those allegations.”
Kelly said she knew little about allegations that Matthew committed fraud. “But to the extent that Meredith and/or her mother had anything to do with that?” she said. “No, absolutely not.”
Meredith was appointed the temporary administrator of Matthew’s will, but Mai, Tran and their daughter Ly Mai intervened on Thursday to request that Meredith not be appointed independent executor.
Mai and Tran requested that the defendants not be allowed to distribute Matthew’s estate without court order, or take action with regard to the Mitchells’ restaurants. They also sought a jury trial.
The Mitchells’ two restaurants remained open immediately after their deaths, but Traveler’s Cart announced this week that it will close Friday.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide Crisis Lifeline or chat at 988Lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the Houston Area Women’s Center’s 24-hour hotline at 713-528-2121 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233). If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Subscribe
There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at ‘Gotta kill everybody’: Video appears to capture Houston restaurant owner before Mitchell family killings.