When Wayne Hedgepath opened the door to his daughter Tracy’s home Friday night, he found her and two of his grandchildren dead, and a third clinging to life with a gunshot wound to the head.
“Daddy did it,” the surviving girl, 7-year-old Destiny Minter, can be heard telling her grandfather on a recording of his call to 911.
Court records show her father, Austen Minter, had a history of mental illness and numerous violent episodes with his family over the past few years – including death threats and at least three shooting incidents. Despite more than a dozen arrests and at least one restraining order, the most time Minter appears to have served in jail was about four months.
Late Monday, Minter’s family issued a statement to WCNC-TV, the Observer’s news partner, apologizing for Austen Minter’s actions.
“We cannot attempt to explain or understand how or why Austen became so disconnected with reality that he was able to harm those he loved most,” the statement read.
“We are extremely sorry for the pain and grief presently gripping the Hedgepath family and know that only time will heal a wound so deep. Two families have been affected by an unthinkable, horrific act of violence.”
The violence was very much a part of Tracy Hedgepath’s life in recent years, according to some court documents.
“Austen Minter has threatened to kill me many times. He stomped me to the ground 2 weeks ago screaming and hitting and kicking… My 3 and 4 year old child was screaming, ‘Stop daddy, don’t hurt mommy,'” Tracy Hedgepath said in an affidavit seeking a domestic violence restraining order in 2008.
Gaston County Police say Minter shot Hedgepath, 24, who was three months pregnant, and their three children late Thursday or early Friday. Six-year-old Austen II and 3-year-old Serenity died. Minter, 25, then took his own life, police said.
Only Destiny survived the rampage. She was upgraded from critical to serious condition Monday, Gaston County police Capt. J.D. Ramey said.
Investigators hope to talk to Destiny soon and continued Monday trying to figure out what triggered the killings, as victim’s relatives began planning funerals.
Police also released recordings of her grandfather’s frantic call to 911, a three-minute conversation captured as Wayne Hedgepath walked through the house, feeling for pulses and begging for help.
“They’re dead,” Wayne Hedgepath yelled to the dispatcher. “Please, ma’am, they’re dead. My grandbabies are dead!”
The couple had been dating for about seven years, since Tracy was a student at North Gaston High School, Ramey said. Relatives on both sides Monday declined to talk with the Observer about what happened.
The couple’s contact with the Gaston County court system began in March 2004, when Minter was convicted of assaulting Hedgepath. He was fined $150 and sentenced to two years probation.
A few months later, Hedgepath sued Minter to pay for medical insurance for their children. He was working for $5.75 an hour at a Pizza Hut, and in June 2004 was ordered to provide medical insurance when he could.
In April 2007, Minter fired a gun into Hedgepath’s house while the children were inside, according to court records. He was taken to Kings Mountain Hospital and involuntarily committed.
The criminal charges were later dismissed, but records didn’t indicate why.
Hospital officials said they couldn’t comment on the case. But Hedgepath said in court filings that Minter had depression and bipolar disorder, a condition marked by wild mood swings.
In 2008, the couple’s life became even more volatile.
In January, Hedgepath filed for a restraining order. She wrote that Minter had hit her, ransacked her house and screamed at her at her job.
“Austen has threatened to shoot me several times,” Hedgepath wrote. He told her he’d kill her and himself if she wouldn’t be with him or let him see the children.
A judge ordered Minter to stay away from Hedgepath for a year. But by March, Minter had violated the order and was again given probation for phoning Hedgepath.
Also in March, she filed for custody of the children, saying she’d ended her relationship with Minter. She said he was depressed, suicidal and “torments his family” while drunk.
In April 2008, it was Minter who sought protection. He filed for a restraining order against Hedgepath, who he said had scratched his face during an argument.
But during the hearing, Minter yelled out in court: “Don’t worry about it, next time she comes around me, I’ll take care of my business myself,” according to court records. A judge did not grant Minter’s request for a protective order.
Then in May, Minter got drunk with several family members at his parent’s house. He trashed the house and attacked his mother and sister, court records say. When he wouldn’t leave, his stepfather shot Minter three times in self-defense, wounding him, according to court records.
In the custody fight, a judge noted Minter’s escalating violence and said his “behavior is becoming increasingly erratic, unpredictable and uninhibited.” Minter lost his visitation rights, and it’s unclear if they were ever restored. The case was still open when the family died.
Last August, records show, Minter got 120 days in jail and 18 months of probation after he pointed a gun at his stepsister’s head. She told police she pushed the gun away as Minter fired twice.
Minter and Hedgepath moved into their house on Dean Drive in Dallas within the last year, police said. Officers went to the home 17 times in the last 10 months, according to the Gaston Gazette, for disturbances, domestic disputes and to serve warrants and subpoenas.
Last Friday, Hedgepath’s parents went to check on her after she didn’t show up for work at Kmart in Gastonia. Police say Destiny, who had been drifting in and out of consciousness for almost a full day, was able to come to the door. Her parents and siblings were found inside.
Hedgepath’s relatives told the Gaston Gazette they worried about her.
“He was a monster, that’s all I’ve got to say about him,” said Hedgepath’s sister Kellie Harris. “He was abusive to his own family. He wasn’t a man, he was a monster.”
Staff writers Joe DePriest and Ames Alexander, researcher Maria David and Observer news partner WCNC contributed.
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One less Mud Shark out there.