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Macie Haight did everything expected of her, says victim advocate

Posted at 5:09 PM, Jan 18, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-18 19:57:09-05

SALT LAKE CITY — After records show a previous child abuse investigation into Michael Haight, the man who earlier murdered his family before shooting himself, a Utah domestic violence educator said the child who brought up the allegations did everything she was supposed to do.

“If we think about Macie at this point as a victim of child abuse, she really did everything the system asks of her,” said Salt Lake City Rabbi Avremi Zippel. “And now, effectively, all she has to show for that is a marble slab over her body with her with her name on it.”

Zippel, who was abused for years by his childhood nanny, is now an advocate for other children who suffered from assault. He read the records in which Macie Haight, the oldest daughter of Michael, told police in 2020 that her father would shake her and once choked her.

“History has repeated itself way too many times for us not to realize that people who end up shooting their families usually have these sorts of stories,” he said.

Some of what’s in the Enoch police report matches warning signs published by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which warns that abusive behavior includes:

  • Insulting, demeaning or shaming, especially in front of other people
  • Preventing someone from making their own decisions
  • Preventing or discouraging someone from spending time with others
  • Showing jealousy of time with others

Zippel sees in the Haights similarities to the Gabby Petito murder in which Moab Police spoke with her and Brian Laundrie prior to her body being found weeks later.

“You watch that moment when they come across Gabby Petito and her boyfriend and the amount of information they are trying to process very, very quickly to make that snap judgement,” explained Zippel.

Zippel believes law enforcement officials need more information and training before investigating cases such as the Haights and Petito.

“More and more trauma informed protocols for law enforcement to follow to really understand the intricacies of the situation is going to be our path forward.”

He also sees a problem with the concept of who commits familicide.

"I think that we think only monsters would do this sort of thing to their family, not someone who was an Eagle Scout, not someone who was the churchgoing kind of guy,” Zippel said. “But it's time we understand that really good people can do really, really bad things. And it's on us as a public and as a society to prevent that from happening.”