Man who served 11 years for his wife’s death kills his parents and niece: Cops

Authorities in Tennessee have arrested an Iowa man on suspicion of murder after his parents and niece were found dead in Nebraska this week.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, 18-year-old Leonna Dalton-Phillip and her grandparents, John Dalton Sr., 70, and Jean Dalton, 65, were shot and killed around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Dalton-Phillip had just arrived to pick up her younger sister, according to her father, Claude Phillip.

“Leonna was stopping by after work to pick up her sister and get a plate of food from her grandmother,” he said. “Her car was still running. That’s how fast all this happened.”

As for her sister, London Dalton was reportedly able to escape and run to a neighbor’s home to report the shooting.

Investigators soon identified Des Moine resident John Dalton Jr., the son of the eldest two victims and uncle to the youngest, as a suspect in the homicide.

The Omaha Police Department has since confirmed the 46-year-old’s arrest Wednesday in Jackson, Tennessee, by a U.S. marshals fugitive task force.

Nearly 20 years ago, authorities also arrested Dalton in Tennessee in connection with the shooting death of his wife. He served more than a decade behind bars after he was convicted of manslaughter.

One of his three children expressed her grief in the wake of the most recent homicides.

“My dad literally has taken everything from us,” she said in a written statement. “I don’t think I can handle this pain and praying it doesn’t kill me. I feel dead already.”

[Featured image: John Dalton Jr./Nebraska Department of Corrections]