A New Hampshire mother who fatally shot her husband and two of their children before turning the gun on herself used TikTok as a raw diary to discuss depression and her husband’s terminal cancer prior to the horrific murder-suicide.
Emily Long, 34, described her TikTok account as ‘cheaper than therapy’ and filled it with anguished posts about coping with the impending death of her husband, Ryan, a 48-year-old school psychologist battling aggressive brain cancer.
On the morning of August 18, Long shot and killed Ryan and two of their three young children – Parker, 8, and daughter Ryan, 6 – before killing herself inside their $600,000 home in Madbury home.
Their youngest child, James, 3, was unharmed and was later found wandering the property by police.
In her TikTok bio, Long labeled herself a ‘Brain Cancer Wife’ and told followers the page was her ‘personal diary.’
In her last post just days before the killings, she admitted that she was in a ‘rut.’
Weeks before the tragedy, she confessed: ‘I feel very, very lonely. I feel so anxious… I know I need to see a therapist, I know I need to ask for help… but I’m not ready to acknowledge that. I feel so guilty that I’m not ready to get help yet… I hope that I make the decision before I feel that it’s too late.’
Her final video struck a more determined tone: ‘I’m making a point to get out of my depression and do this for my family.’
In other clips, Long described her life as a single parent in all but name.
‘I’m doing all the bedtimes and by the time I’m saying goodnight to my third kid it hits me that this is going to be every single night at some point for the rest of my life,’ she said.
‘By the time I shut the door to the final kid, I’m totally by myself and I have no one to talk about my day with… I’m mourning my husband, I’m mourning my marriage and it’s still there. It’s very confusing and overwhelming.’
Friends told the Daily Mail that Long had recently quit her job as director of operations at local chicken-wing chain Wing-itz and was unhappy with her career.
Combined with mounting financial worries and fears of losing the house, she confided to friends she was struggling with severe depression.
‘She was fairly open about not knowing how to explain to the kids that they were going to lose their father,’ one friend said.
‘Even though she had a network of people around her, we were still shocked and caught off guard.’
Investigators say Long shot her husband multiple times in bed around 5:30 a.m., before killing her two children with single bullets.
James, the couple’s toddler, was not targeted.
‘I don’t know why she spared him. I can’t make sense of it,’ the friend added.
Police discovered the boy unharmed and wandering the home at 8:30 a.m. He is now in the care of Long’s parents.
Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said detectives are weighing financial pressures, Long’s mental health, and Ryan’s cancer diagnosis as possible factors.
‘I think the big thing is to not speculate one reason why something like this would happen,’ he said.
‘Homicide and suicide is usually much, much more complex than just one reason.’
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office echoed that warning, noting: ‘While investigators are becoming aware of various concerns/issues ongoing in the household… people should avoid speculating that this event was caused by a single reason or stressor.’