THE husband of a mom who executed three of her children and seriously injured a fourth before shooting herself in the head has now come to her defense.
Tranyelle Harshman, 32, died after killing her girls on Monday, and her husband, Cliff Harshman, gave an emotional plea for understanding, saying she was “not a monster.”
Cliff Harshman is mourning the loss of his wife Tranyelle and three of her four daughtersFacebook
Tranyelle, 32, shot her four daughters, killing three and leaving one in critical condition, before turning the gun on herselfFacebook
FacebookCliff broke down into tears as he said his wife ‘was not a monster’[/caption]
“This is so out of character. It’s unbelievable what had happened,” he told Cowboy State Daily while weeping.
“We’d been getting her help, and along the way, something didn’t work.
“My wife was not a monster.”
Tranyelle, 32, called 911 to report that her four daughters had been shot in their home in the town of Byron, Wyoming, about 75 miles east of Yellowstone National Park.
The mom told the dispatcher exactly where to find the girls’ bodies before abruptly hanging up and turning the gun on herself.
The dispatcher tried to keep her on the phone, but Tranyelle told them it was “too late.”
When Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, they found her oldest daughter, Brailey, 9, and two younger girls, who are 2 and 3, had been killed.
Another 7-year-old girl had traumatic brain injuries and was flown to a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she’s fighting for her life.
Tranyelle, meanwhile, was taken to a hospital in Billings, Montana, where she died on Tuesday afternoon.
County Sheriff’s Deputy Keri Angell, one of the first to enter the house, broke down in tears as she described witnessing the horrific sight.
“Seventeen years at the sheriff’s office and working crime scenes, and you don’t ever expect something like this,” she told CBS affiliate KRTV.
HUSBAND’S HORROR
Cliff was Tranyelle’s second husband, and they shared her two youngest children together.
After her death, he opened up about her mental health struggles and revealed that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and post-partum depression.
He said the family was trying to get her help when she did the unthinkable.
“Most people don’t understand how that affects the brain. It’s a chemical imbalance,” he said.
“And it can be exacerbated by trying to fix it with medication.”
Cliff said that Tranyelle and the girls were home from school on Monday because they had the flu.
He was in Southern California for work when he got the dark news but flew back fast enough to tell Tranyelle goodbye.
Cliff is living in a hotel while he fervently prays for Tranyelle’s daughter’s recovery and sorts through funeral arrangements.
He said he feels angry with Tranyelle but is still mourning her loss.
“As angry as I may be with her, I still love her – and I still lost her as well,” he said.
The U.S. Sun reached out to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, and they confirmed they are still actively investigating the murder-suicide.
FacebookTranyelle was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum depression, according to her husband[/caption]
KTVRDeputy Keri Angell of the Big Horn County Sheriff’s broke down in tears as she described walking into the crime scene[/caption]
KRTVTranyelle opened fire on the girls at their home in the town of Byron, Wyoming, about 75 miles east of Yellowstone National Park[/caption]
DISTURBING LINK
Tranyelle’s killings come just over two years after Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mom, allegedly killed her three children under eerily similar circumstances and shined a national spotlight on struggles with post-partum depression.
Prosecutors believe she strangled little Cora, five, Dawson, three, and seven-month-old baby Callan with exercise bands before throwing herself from her home’s second-floor window.
She was discovered by her husband Patrick and survived the horror incident, but is now paralyzed from the waist down.
A defense attorney for Clancy cited “mental illness” and a cocktail of prescriptions that allegedly exacerbated her symptoms as the cause behind the horrific crime.
Patrick also admitted that his wife was struggling mentally and revealed that he had forgiven her in a bombshell interview in October.
“I wasn’t married to a monster – I was married to someone who got sick,” he told The New Yorker.
Clancy is facing three counts each of murder, and her trial is scheduled to begin in January 2026.
On Wednesday, Plymouth Superior Court Judge William F Sullivan ruled that Patrick’s recorded interviews could be submitted as evidence because he was a crime scene witness.
Correspondence with Pat’s parents, sister, and friends will also be submitted to the court.
GoFundMeCliff was Tranyelle’s second husband[/caption]
KTVRHe raced from Southern California, where he was working,g to say goodbye to his wife[/caption]
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