In a case that shook Florida to its core, a mother of three was fatally wounded inside her home while her 13-year-old daughter was left fighting for her life after an argument over a Monday Night Football game spiraled into a horrific act of domestic violence.
The man responsible was her own husband, 47-year-old Jason Kenney, who attacked his teenage stepdaughter before fleeing the scene and ultimately taking his own life.
Highlights
- A Florida mother was fatally injured at home during an argument over a Monday Night Football game.
- Her teenage daughter sustained severe facial trauma and remains hospitalized in critical condition.
- The father responsible for the incident later harmed himself and did not survive.
“He just absolutely destroyed a family. Literally,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. The tragedy took place a few days before Christmas, on December 22.
A Florida dad fatally wounded his wife and attacked his stepdaughter over a Monday Night Football game
Image credits: Polk County Sheriff's Office
Disclaimer: This article includes details of domestic violence and firearm-related injuries.
According to Sheriff Judd, Jason had been drinking while watching the San Francisco 49ers vs. Indianapolis Colts game in a shed behind the family home.
When he walked back inside to catch the final minutes, an argument erupted over control of the television.
Image credits: Facebook/Jason Kenney
The mother, 33-year-old Crystal Kenney, tried to put a stop to the situation and told her 12-year-old son to run next door and call for help.
“So the 12-year-old flees to the neighbor’s house in order to dial 911, and as he’s leaving the house, he hears a g*ns*ot,” Judd said.
Deputies arrived minutes later, but it was already too late. Crystal had suffered a fatal wound to the head inflicted by her own husband.
Image credits: Facebook/Crystal Kenney
Soon after, officials discovered Crystal’s 13-year-old daughter gravely injured in a bedroom.
She had been attacked twice: once in the shoulder and once in the face. Despite this, the teen was still able to recount what had transpired to Sheriff Judd in heartbreaking detail before being rushed to the hospital.
“She said, ‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me,’ and he s*ot her anyway,” Judd recalled.
The 13-year-old survived thanks to what the Sheriff called a “Christmas miracle”
Image credits: Facebook/Jason Kenney
Medical personnel who treated the teenage stepdaughter found that the bullet had entered at the bridge of her nose and exited through the top of her skull – a trajectory that, under most circumstances, would cause catastrophic brain injury.
“It’s a Christmas miracle,” Sheriff Judd said.
Image credits: Facebook/Crystal Kenney
As of the latest updates from law enforcement, she remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Deputies have not publicly confirmed whether she has suffered long-term brain damage.
A one-year-old baby girl shared by Jason and Crystal was also in the home but was found unharmed, asleep in her crib.
Image credits: Facebook/Jason Kenney
Following the shootings, Jason fled in a vehicle. As he drove, he called his sister in New York. “He told her he had done something very, very bad,” Judd said, noting that Jason warned her “The next time you see me will be on the news.”
Image credits: Facebook/Crystal Kenney
Deputies tracked him to his father’s property, where he barricaded himself in a shed. While authorities attempted to negotiate, a single bang rang out. Jason had turned the weapon on himself.
Before losing her life, the mother suspected her husband had resumed using illegal substances
Image credits: Facebook/Jason Kenney
Inside the Kenney home, detectives found a handwritten letter from Crystal addressing her husband’s deteriorating behavior, revealing he had relapsed from a dependence to illegal substances.
Image credits: Polk County Sheriff's Office
“You’re drinking, you’re using co**ine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God,” the note read.
Image credits: Facebook/Jason Kenney
The Sheriff recounted how the Kenney home appeared to be perfect from the outside.
“When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under it, just like the nuclear family should be,” he said, describing the haunting contrast between those details and the events that transpired.
Image credits: Facebook/Crystal Kenney
“Our homicide detectives are distraught,” Judd admitted.
The surviving children – a 12-year-old boy, a critically injured teenage girl, and a baby – are now in the custody of their maternal grandparents.
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