Renee Flaherty’s brother says that Jeffrey Hutchinson promised to take care of her and her three kids before they moved from Washington to Florida. And then one terrible night in 1998, he shot them.
Renee Flaherty did her best to provide for her three children.
Even though there wasn’t always “much on the shelves,” the rural mail carrier and single eastern Washington mom worked hard to put food on the table and loved her children dearly, said her brother, Wesley Elmore.
“Her kids were a priority. She made sure that her kids were fed and took care of,” Elmore said.
Then Flaherty met Jeffrey Hutchinson. On paper, he was a war hero, having served in the Gulf War as a U.S. Army Ranger. But he would end up murdering Flaherty and the children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan.
Now more than two decades later, Hutchinson is set to be executed by lethal injection for the murders in Florida on Thursday. As he lives his final hours, USA TODAY is looking back at who Flaherty and her children were to help honor their lives.
A broken promise
The last time Elmore saw his sister, just before Thanksgiving in 1997, he felt the family was in “good hands” with Hutchinson as they prepared to move to Florida.
“I was giving Renee and the kids a hug and everything, goodbyes,” Elmore told USA TODAY. “I remember shaking Jeff’s hand and I said, ‘Take care of my sister and her kids,’ And he says, ‘Wes, I promise I will.’”
Months later, the 32-year-old Flaherty and her children would be found dead in their home, and Hutchinson was spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, according to court documents.
Hutchinson, 62, was convicted of fatally shooting the family of four.
Renee Flaherty, tomboy who served as emotional support
Elmore described his sister as a tomboy whose upbringing with three brothers made her tough.
“We used to go skiing when we were kids. It was me and her. She would crash and she would laugh,” Elmore said. “She’s my little sister, but it’s kind of like hanging out with just another buddy.”
Elmore went through a divorce around when Flaherty separated from her husband. Elmore credited her with helping him navigate the turbulent time.
“It was hard, but she was my rock,” Elmore said. “Growing up she was always person who I could always talk to and confide with.”
Elmore recalled a time when, in almost stereotypical fashion, Elmore’s son and Flaherty’s 9-year-old son Geoffrey attempted to remove the heads from the Barbie dolls of Flaherty’s 7-year-old daughter Amanda. “They thought it was funny and Renee was just furious at both the boys … they were kids, just mischievous.”
As for Flaherty’s 4-year-old son Logan, he had a knack for taking advantage of the 5-acre home the family had in eastern Washington.
“There were times where Logan would be walking around just, you know, an underwear and a pair of rubber boots, (Renee was) like, ‘you know, I dressed him early this morning, so he had clothes on.’”
Elmore noted that the children never got to become adults and that he mourns the milestones that they did not reach.
“Logan was only 4, and he didn’t get chance to even start school, you know,” Elmore said. “Geoffrey, Amanda, they didn’t get a chance to even finish grade school. They were robbed, they were robbed of lots of things.”
What happened to Renee Flaherty and her children?
On the night of Sept. 11, 1998, Hutchinson fought with Flaherty, after which he packed some of his clothes and guns into his truck, and went to a bar, according to court records.
The bartender testified that Hutchinson told him that Flaherty was angry with him, while other witnesses testified that he drove recklessly as he left, according to court documents.
Hutchinson then returned to the home, “busted down” the front door and shot Flaherty, Amanda and Logan in the master bedroom, a forensic pathologist testified − according to court documents. Hutchinson shot Geoffrey last in both the chest and then the head while the child “was able to see the bodies of his mother, sister, and brother.”
“The terror suffered in that moment is incomprehensible to this court,” Hutchinson’s trial judge said, according to the Associated Press.
Hutchinson called the police and told a dispatcher: “I just shot my family.” Since then Hutchinson has maintained that the murders were committed by two home invaders and that the family was killed in a struggle.
The Army veteran was diagnosed as suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, but the trial judge ruled him competent to stand trial.
Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty and liaison for Hutchinson’s legal team, told USA TODAY that there are significant questions around Hutchinson’s competency to be executed.
“There should be a pause to have a full and fair and complete hearing to determine the significance of his long-standing mental illness and brain damage and how that impacted him back then, at the time of trial, his sentencing, and how it impacts his ability to proceed with this execution,” DeLiberato said.
Brother finds justice, but not closure with execution
Elmore and his brother Darren will witness the execution, should it be carried out. He said that he believes that Hutchinson is “getting off easy” given the brutal nature of the murders.
“This is long awaited … Now that time is closing in on him, I’m actually glad that things are happening now. It’s justice.”
His sentiment echoes a statement from Melva Elmore, Renee and Wesley’s mother, following the sentencing in 2001. “Justice has prevailed. He knew what he was doing,” Melva said at the time, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Elmore said he does not believe he will find closure with the execution.
“People who don’t walk in my shoes, they don’t understand that closure, you never get it,” Elmore said. “But at least I know that part of this chapter my life is over with now, because justice finally served.”
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