Father Kills 2 Children in Murder-Suicide — Months After Their Grandparents Died in a Similar Tragedy

Police are investigating the second murder-suicide to devastate the same Oklahoma family in two years — a father, son, young woman and dog all found dead amid signs of long-unchecked mental illness. 

Police found the bodies of Rodney Shippy, 58, Logan Shippy, 10, and a dog in their Broken Arrow home around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a Broken Arrow Police Department press release.

A medical examiner is working to identify a third, female body found in the home, believed to be 20-year-old Alyssa Shippy, the department said. Due to the “condition of the home,” the body wasn’t initially seen by officers. 

The Broken Arrow Police Department was at the home serving a search warrant after out-of-state family members had contacted police, per the outlets, telling them that they had not seen or heard from Alyssa since November.

In August of 2022, according to the outlets, 41-year-old Lisa Shippy — Rodney Shippy’s wife and the children’s mother — took her own life at the same West Roanoke house, according to the Broken Arrow Sentinel, KJRH and her online obituary.

Five months later, Lisa’s mother, 56-year-old Diane Carpenter, was stabbed to death by her husband, 66-year-old Kenny Carpenter, in south Broken Arrow before he took his own life after a 4-hour standoff with police in January 2023, according to Fox 23, the Longview News Journal and the Broken Arrow Sentinel.

Online court records reviewed by PEOPLE show that the U.S. Bank National Association filed a foreclosure notice on the Shippy’s house in January in Tulsa County District Court for $135,000 in unpaid principal. Rodney Shippy had until June to file an answer to a court notice, according to the documents. 

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Property records show that Rodney and Lisa Shippy purchased the home in 2021.

A GoFundMe launched by surviving family members for the children’s burials has raised nearly $1,700 since it was launched on Thursday. 

Neighbors told KJRH that 10-year-old Logan had autism and was nonverbal; they often saw him playing outside, and he loved posting YouTube videos. A family member told the outlet that a recent video showing the interior of the family home alerted them to possible disorder in the household.

“Not suitable for a child, no running water, trash — looked like a completely different house,” relative Patti Williams told the outlet. “[Rodney] seemed to be holding it together months after [Lisa] passed… then he started estranging himself to everyone.”

The tragedy is the latest in a string of murder-suicides in the Tulsa suburb. 

Phillip Jason Hammock shot his wife and son dead in May 2023 before turning the gun on himself, according to the Broken Arrow Sentinel, Fox 23 and News on 6. He survived, and was deemed unfit to stand trial for two first degree murder charges due to a resulting traumatic brain injury. 

The Broken Arrow Sentinel, Fox 23 and News on 6 also reported on a July 19, 2024 incident in which Jacob Haas, 26, shot his brother, grandfather and aunt to death before fatally shooting himself. 

Brian and Brittney Nelson were found dead with their six children in an October 2022 house fire at their Broken Arrow home — police investigated the deaths as a murder-suicide and subsequent autopsies showed they had all been shot, according to NBC News, NPR and KTUL.

Domestic violence homicides are rising in Oklahoma, according to February data from the Oklahoma Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board. 

“The 122 domestic violence-related homicide victims identified in 2023 is the highest number since the DVFRB started collecting data in 2002. The total marks five consecutive years where the DVFRB has identified more than 100 victims who were killed due to domestic violence in Oklahoma,” the board wrote in their report.