Neighbors have expressed their sorrow after the bodies of a family were discovered at a residence in Madbury, New Hampshire, US following a suspected murder-suicide.
State troopers were called to the residence of the Long family on Monday, August 18. Autopsies were then carried out, with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office concluding that Emily Long fatally shot her family members before turning the gun on herself.
In a statement, the New Hampshire Department of Justice said: “Based upon the information available at this time, it appears that in the early morning hours of Monday, 18 August, 2025, Ms. Long took a handgun from the home and caused the deaths of Ryan Long and her two children, Parker and Ryan, and then took her own life immediately thereafter.”
A three-year-old child was also found in the home, unharmed.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella revealed that Ryan – who had been suffering from terminal cancer – had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Emily and her children, meanwhile, were each killed by a single bullet to the head.
Back in April, Long announced her husband’s diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. She recently admitted to her TikTok followers viewers that she felt herself “withering away,” acknowledging she needed help and hoped she would be ready to seek it before it was “too late.”
The mother-of-three discussed her husband’s cancer treatment in detail, including his surgery and chemotherapy. She also delved into the impact it was having on the mental health of her and her children.
In her final video, thought to have been posted shortly before the shootings, Long said: “Our kids are definitely struggling.”
She continued: “All I want to do is hide under a blanket with my kids, but that isn’t healthy for them and it’s not healthy for me.
“Today I decided I need to make a conscious effort to shift my mindset. I’m getting out of this depression whether I want to or not.”
Though much has been made of Emily’s bleak final few posts before the tragedy that unfolded earlier this month, neighbors of the family say they’ve been left stunned.
Bevy Ketel, who lived close to the Longs, told CBS News. “It was shocking. It was a perfect family as far as we knew.”
She also said that Ryan had “touched a lot of lives” in the town of Madbury, stating: “He was part of the fabric of the community and his family goes along with it.”
Ketel also recalled seeing the Long children recently setting up a lemonade stand to sell beverages to locals.
“It’s just like that kind of idyllic summer day, and then this,” the resident said. “How does it go from that to this? It’s just shocking. We didn’t see it coming.”
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati advised against reading too much into information circulating about the family.
“One of the biggest questions they have right now is motive, why? And I think that’s probably one of the more difficult things that they are trying to grasp to understand how this came to be.”
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