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Live-in girlfriend charged with first-degree murders of fire chief and his basketball star daughter, 15, fatally shot inside their Missouri home – Linda Hayden faces death penalty if convicted

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Henry Williams, retired Berkeley fire chief and his 15-year-old daughter, Ha’layna Elliot, a high school sophomore were shot to death in their home in Ferguson, Missouri on Saturday February 21

A retired fire chief and his teenage daughter were shot to death inside their home by his girlfriend, police said.
The bodies of Henry Williams, 63, the the former fire chief of Berkeley and his 15-yearold daughter Ha’layna Elliot, were discovered by family members at their residence in the city of Ferguson, North St. Louis County, Missouri, on Saturday.
Williams’ live-in girlfriend, Linda Hayden, 61, has been charged with the double-homicide.
The ex-fire chief served several decades as a firefighter and coached girls’ basketball for many years. 
Ha’layna, a sophomore at Pattonville High School was a standout high school basketball player who had already made a name for herself in the sport.

Double-homicide suspect Linda Hayden, 61, has been charged in the double murder. She was Williams’ live-in girlfriend. Ferguson police believe this was a domestic violence-related shooting

On the day of the killings, family members spoke to Williams at around 5:30pm and made plans to meet him at his house, according to a criminal complaint.
The relatives got to his home at 6:11pm and found Williams in the kitchen with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. 
Ha’layna body was discovered in her bedroom. She had been shot in the forehead, per court records.
Officers with the Ferguson Police Department found Hayden barricaded in the master bedroom, according to the complaint.

Family members found Henry Williams and his daughter Ha’layna Elliot, by distraught family members at their residence in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday. Both had been were discovered shot in the head

She was discovered alongside a .38 caliber revolver with two spent casings in the cylinder and three live rounds, per the document.
Police said Hayden ‘spontaneously made a statement that she guessed she was the villain in the story and that [Williams] was a bad man and a narcissist’.
Police are treating this as a domestic-violence incident and have said there is no ongoing threat to the community.
The deaths have devastated their friends and family, including Willie Williams, who is not related to Williams but treated him as a father figure.
‘Coach Henry was not just an amazing coach, but an amazing father and an amazing person,’ Willie Williams told KSDK-TV.
‘It’s tough because Coach Henry was retired. Everything he was doing was volunteer.’

15-year-old Ha’layna Elliot, [wearing black], a high school sophomore was a star basketball player and a sophomore at Pattonville High School

Ha’layna’s teammate, Jael Williams, commented on just how good she was on the court.
‘Every time she shot the ball, we all watched, and it went in every time,’ she said.
Chief Williams coached both girls since the sixth grade. Jael has fond memories of her teammate’s dad coaching her on the court.
‘When we were practicing shooting and all the girls were making it and my shooting was horrible, he pulled me to the side, and he taught me how to shoot,’ Jael recalled. 

Ha’layna’s teammate, Jael Williams, [left], and Willie Williams [no relations of the deceased family], recalled fond memories with coach Henry Williams and Ha’layna on and off the court

After police said Hayden was ‘a danger to the community’, a judge set her cash-only bond at $2 million.
This means Hayden would have to come up with the entire sum to be released pending trial.
Hayden’s friends are puzzled by her action said: ‘We know that she is not this kind of person who would just kill two people,’ Hayden’s best friend, Cheryl Foutz, said. ‘It’s very shocking. It’s very heartbreaking to many of us.’
One of Hayden’s relatives released the following statement: ‘I know she’s no monster. I love her from my heart, and I’m praying for God to work through her as she is sitting there.’
Hayden has been charged with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.
If convicted as charged, she faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole. She is currently in custody at the St. Louis County Justice Center.

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