Chilling Note Found in Teen's Room After Mom, 8-Year-Old Shot Dead: "This is a Murder Story"

Jessica Lyman’s 15-year-old son sent her a barrage of hateful texts in the days before she and her 8-year-old son were found shot dead — and in his bedroom, investigators found a handwritten note that read, “This is a murder story.”

Although a suspect has not yet been named publicly, newly unsealed warrants — filed on April 18 and obtained by PEOPLE — are shedding light on the March 28 double homicide of mother-of-three Lyman, 44, and her son Eli Painter in their Saratoga Springs, Utah home. 

Police responded to the home on Willowbrook Lane after Lyman’s 17-year-old daughter reported that she found the two victims lying on the floor, unconscious and covered in blood, per the warrant. The 8-year-old, who had been shot twice “with a small caliber round” in the head, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Lyman, found in critical condition beside her son with her pants and underwear “pulled around her knees,” showed initial signs of life, but died of her injuries two days later at a nearby hospital.

Lyman’s 15-year-old son allegedly said that he had been up late the previous night using his cellphone, was taking a nap before police arrived and didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. 

When an officer asked if there were weapons in the home, the boy allegedly said he wasn’t aware of any “guns” in the house, per the warrant.

“At that point, [the boy] had not been told by EMS or police officers that the incident involved a gun or gunshot wounds,” police wrote.

A search of the scene with an alternate light source showed “dried [genetic material] on the sheets adjacent to where Jessica had been lying,” per the warrant. A doctor at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center allegedly told police that he found suspicious genetic material on Lyman in the hospital. 

While executing their warrant, detectives found intimate articles of Lyman’s clothing in her 15-year-old son’s room, police wrote.

Along with the ominous note, investigators found two BB gun pistols, plate carriers and magazine pouches. Other than the BB gun, however, no weapons were recovered in the home, per the unsealed search warrant.

Another handwritten note allegedly referenced “several forms of forensic testing” including “serology,” “DNA” and “firearm testing.”

Investigators found a white-and-brown mask in the 15-year-old’s room that, per the documents, “resembles the mask that is seen on… video recordings” provided by neighbors.

A figure was seen on the footage walking out-of-view near the victims’ home that evening, per the warrants. Another clip shows someone exiting through a gap in a fence around 2:30 a.m. on the morning of the murders, then returning around 3 a.m. Before disappearing from frame, the person allegedly puts on a white mask, per the document. 

“Nobody was captured either entering into or exiting from the gap for the rest of the night,” police wrote.

A forensic download of Lyman’s phone revealed a slurry of vitriolic texts sent by her son in the weeks before she was shot: “Do you know how insignificant you are to my life?” one text read. 

“I wish I died in your stomach,” read another. 

Lyman’s immediate family wrote that their lives are “forever changed” in a statement shared with PEOPLE: 

“While we continue to wait for answers, we remain hopeful that justice will be served and those responsible will be held accountable,” their statement read in part. “We miss Jessica and Eli every single moment of every single day. When we are together as a family, we can’t help but feel incomplete. We miss their smiles, their laughter, and their joyful spirits. Please continue to keep our family, and everyone affected by this senseless tragedy, in your thoughts and prayers.”

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“If you have any information that could help move this case forward, we urge you to come forward and contact the Saratoga Springs Police Department. Jessica and Eli deserve justice, and even the smallest detail could help law enforcement in their ongoing investigation,” they wrote.

When reached for comment, the representative with the Saratoga Springs Police Department shared the following statement:

“On July 7, 2025, local media outlets published information obtained from search warrants that were recently unsealed following the expiration of a 90-day seal. Neither the family of the victims nor the Saratoga Springs Police Department participated in the release of this information,” the statement read. “The families of the victims have been extremely cooperative throughout the entire investigation and the Saratoga Springs Police Department remains committed to continue to work closely with them in the pursuit of justice.”