Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of domestic violence. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, you can find resources and discreet ways to get help on the National Domestic Violence Hotline website or by calling 1-800-799-7233.
(NewsNation) — The shooting deaths of an Arkansas mother and her 6-year-old twins last week came as the woman had just divorced her husband, a physician convicted of domestic battery against her and whose previous wife also died by gun violence.
The bodies of 40-year-old Charity Beallis and her children were discovered Dec. 3 during a well-being check at the family’s Bonanza home in northwest Arkansas, the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities this week said they were sorting through evidence and tips after serving search warrants and interviewing people in the case, but no suspects had been identified.
The family of Charity Beallis, however, notes the woman had been involved in a divorce and custody dispute with her estranged spouse, Randall Beallis, and feared for her safety. In October, Randall Beallis pleaded guilty to third-degree battery after prosecutors accused him of choking his spouse in February.
Randall Beallis received a one-year suspended sentence and paid more than $1,000 to the court, according to published reports.
Randall Beallis’ first wife also died by gun violence. Shawna Beallis’ shooting death in 2012 was ruled a suicide, The Daily Mail reports, and now her family wants the earlier case reopened.
In response to the deaths of Charity Beallis and her twins, the physician’s attorney told the New York Post that Randall Beallis has cooperated with the police investigation and hopes “the sheriff’s office finds the truth about what happened.”
Randall Beallis and Charity Beallis had attended a custody hearing the day before the bodies of his ex-wife and their children were found. After the killings, Dec. 4, his attorney filed a motion to dismiss the divorce.