Thursday, March 16, 2023
Thursday, March 16, 2023
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    2 years later, widow of Texas church killer operating Facebook groups
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    The widow of mass-murderer Devin Patrick Kelley has turned a new stone in her life, spending her days managing Facebook groups that pertain to other tragedies, some of which are eerily similar to her monstrous husbands’ killing spree.

    According to reports, Danielle Higgins, once known as Danielle Kelley, suspected her husband was deeply troubled for many years before she married him and had his two children. 

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    That all changed on Nov. 5, 2017 when Devin stormed into First Baptist Church, killing 26 individuals and wounding over twenty others. When he exited the church, a brave bystander shot him twice but he was able to flee in a vehicle before shooting himself in the head after a high-speed chase with police.

    An ATF agent walks past the front of the First Baptist Church on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, where a gunman opened fire on a Sunday service in Sutherland Springs, Texas. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

    Kelley’s instability was apparent and well-documented for many years before his death at age 27. When he attended New Braunfels High School, he racked up an extensive disciplinary record with multiple suspensions for offenses such as falsifying records and drugs. 

    Prior to the mass shooting, Kelly was charged with assaulting his first wife and seriously injuring his toddler son, sexual assault and rape and animal cruelty after beating his dog. 

    Kelly also made death threats against officers at the Air Force Base where he worked and was ultimately dismissed from military service with a bad conduct discharge in 2014.

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    Despite overwhelming evidence of Kelley’s sociopathic tendencies, Higgins happily married him in 2014 when she was 19 and he was 23. She proceeded to have his son and daughter, who were ages 2 years and 5 months on the fateful day in 2017 when Kelley strapped Higgins to their bed and left to perform his final acts of hatred.

    An ATF agent walks past the front of the First Baptist Church on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, where a gunman opened fire on a Sunday service in Sutherland Springs, Texas. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

    Higgins is quoted by the Washington Post to say, “It’s just not fair because my kids now have to grow up without a dad. I have to do things by myself as a single parent.” Her comment sparked outcries from readers, who observed, “Why would you marry such a man and even worse have children with him?” and “Her husband killed how many people? And her response is ‘It’s not fair?’ And this person is raising a child? God help us all.”

    In a series of interviews with the San Antonio Express-News, Danielle Higgins said she contemplated suicide after the killing spree. Higgins also stated “No matter what, I will love him,” referring to her husband Devin. 

    Only Higgins can explain her motivation to connect herself with the Facebook page “Red Shoe Crime District,” which manages over two dozen Facebook groups with combined membership exceeding 100,000 people. All these groups focus on missing people and high profile crime cases, including missing mom Jennifer Dulos, Maleah Davis in Texas, family killer Chris Watts among others.

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