Fire marshal rules murder-suicide in deaths of 3 in house fire (Update)

A Eunice mother shot her 16- and 9-year-old daughters with a handgun, set their home on fire and then shot herself, State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning Jr. said Monday at a news conference at the Eunice City Hall.
“It is a very sad occasion that we are here at the Eunice Municipal complex to put out some information on a very tragic incident that occurred in this city yesterday,” Browning said. “The Eunice Fire Department responded to a residential fire. Upon their arrival, they discovered the bodies of three people in that home. As a matter of routine, the Eunice Police Department called the state fire marshal’s office in to investigate to find the cause of these deaths.”
Carla Watford, 39, and her daughters Julia Watford, a sophomore at Eunice High School, and Jayia Watford, were found dead in a bed in the home’s master bedroom.
At 12:47 a.m. Sunday, the Eunice Fire Department responded to a residential fire at 750 S. 4th St., after a police officer noticed the fire. When firefighters arrived, the home was largely engulfed in flames, and during the search and rescue efforts, the firefighters discovered the three bodies.
Officials from the state fire marshal’s office arrived at the scene Monday morning to investigate the cause of the fire.
Browning said, “In our investigation, we have recovered the weapon we believed was used in this crime. We also recovered the evidence that a chemical accelerant was used to set the fire.”
Browning said, “The investigation is still very much ongoing. We are pretty confidant with what has occurred today to release this information. We are ready to say that this was an internally set fire. We do believe it was murder-suicide.”
Browning said preliminary reconstructions of the scene indicated that the fire was started just outside the master bedroom of the home, where all three bodies where found in a bed. Brown also said that the mother likely killed the children in the bedroom and then set the fire, but that would have to be confirmed by the coroner following autopsies. The fire marshal also said that it appeared the mother took her own life with the weapon recovered at the scene, but that too would have to be confirmed during an autopsy.
“We are doing this press conference a little earlier than we normally do,” Brown said. “We are pretty confident with what happened. There are a lot of rumors, questions were going on across the city. We have lots of information to gather.”
A letter believed to have been written by Carla Watford was among the recovered evidence, as well as a .38-caliber handgun. All evidence will be processed at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge, Browning said.
“I have to say this is a very tragic situation certainly for the family, certainly for the city and certainly for the first responders who had to respond and do their best but to no avail these three deaths occurred,” Browning said. “Many things are very unexplainable. Many things we as first responders see every day take a very big toll on us and certainly this scene is one of those.”
Browning added, “I was personally there today as family members and friends came by and brought flowers, brought gifts and put balloons on trees in remembrance of this mother and her children. It seems these children were very much a part of this community, attended home school and many church groups, meetings and what not, so it’s very, very sad. We believe that every family deserves answers as to what happened and there are still a lot of answers that are yet to be determined.”
Browning said that investigators were speaking with witnesses who knew the family and their pasts, and he spoke of the office’s respectfulness for the family members as well as the community’s need for time to adjust to the tragedy.
“Obviously something led up to this late Sunday morning, so give us some time to complete our investigation,” he added.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said, “This is such a sad and tragic day for Eunice,” Fontenot said. “We lost three young ladies who had roots and ties to this community. What I want to do today is bring a message to you and the family: Carla was not a bad person. She was a good mother. What led her to do this, we will never know but she was the mother of two children she loved very much and these children were good children, good girls. They had a future in this community and with their lives.”
Fontenot asked the community respect the wishes of the family and allow them time to grieve.
“Do keep that in mind, they do appreciate all the voices of concern and the prayers that have been lifted up for the family,” Fontenot said.
Eunice Fire Chief Mike Arnold took the time to extend his thanks to the Acadia Parish Fire District 4, St. Landry Fire District 6, the Mamou, Branch and Richard fire departments and the Eunice Police Department.
“The Eunice police department actually had officers on the end of a fire hose at our initial arrival. Great job guys. Thank y’all,” Arnold said.
“Like Chief Butch said, it was traumatic. Our firefighters found those bodies first off. It puts a shock on us, too. Please keep all the first responders in your prayers. We need all the help we can get,” he said.
According to Deputy Chief Brant Thompson with the state fire marshals office, the scene was released Monday evening, but investigators with the state fire marshals office were still conducting interviews in the area. Autopsies for the victims were scheduled for Wednesday morning, he said.
Monday morning, the marquee sign in front of Eunice High School, where Julia was a student read, “Juila Watford Forever a Bobcat.”
“She was a very sweet, quiet, kind student,” said principal Mitchell Fontenot. “She was always smiling. She will be missed by students and teachers. She was the epitome of a what a Eunice High Bobcat should be. She always did the right thing, going to class, making good grades.”
To contact Claudette Olivier, email claudette.olivier@eunicetoday.com.