2 Toddlers, 2 adults - Murder/Suicide - San Clemente CA

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Authorities say a woman has killed herself
and three other family members, including two young children, in what
may have started as a child custody dispute in an upscale, gated
Southern California community.The Orange County Sheriff's
Department says the bodies of a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old sister,
their 38-year-old mother and a relative in her 60s were discovered
Monday afternoon in San Clemente. They say the killer is one of the
dead. Their identities and the cause of deaths haven't been released.Authorities
say the killings apparently stemmed from a domestic dispute and may
have involved child custody matters. The children's parents were
estranged and the father didn't live at the home.San Clemente is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

SAN CLEMENTE -- Orange County sheriff's investigators believe a
grandmother carried out the murder-suicide in San Clemente that claimed
the lives of herself, her daughter and two young granddaughters.



Elizabeth Fontaine, 38, her daughters Catherine Fontaine, 4, and Julia
Fontaine, 2, and their grandmother Bonnie Hoult, 67, were found dead
Monday afternoon in a rented home where they were staying in a gated
community in the upscale Talega community, said Jim Amormino, a
spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Amormino said a gun-residue test was inconclusive because Bonnie Hoult
and Elizabeth Fontaine died next to one another and the gunpowder
residue was found on the hands of both. However. it's believed that the
grandmother likely pulled the trigger.

Amormino says that a deputy sheriff arrived at the home just moments
before the gunshots were fired to do a welfare check. He says that
Hoult was outside with her 4 year old granddaughter when she saw the
deputy and walked briskly in the house. Within seconds, the deputy
heard gunshots inside the home.

An unidentified sheriff's homicide investigator told the OC Register what investigators believe happened.

About 1:30 p.m. Monday, Hoult was outside the home on Calle Sonador,
holding Catherine. She was standing next to a black Lexus SUV
registered to her daughter in front of the house when a female deputy
pulled up.

Hoult, apparently thinking the deputy was coming to take away the
children, bolted into the house through the open garage door. She
slammed it and locked the doors to the house.

Based on what investigators have been able to piece together, they
believe that seconds later, while the deputy was standing outside,
Hoult - gun in hand - walked up to Elizabeth Fontaine, who was cradling
Julia in her arms.

Hoult put the muzzle in the toddler Julia's mouth and fired once.

Fontaine then opened her mouth, and Hoult shot her.

The grandmother and former schoolteacher then grabbed Catherine and shot her in the mouth.

All four bodies were found intertwined, just beyond a front door decorated with a Christmas wreath.

The children's bags had been packed and were sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

The gun belonged to Hoult, a retired psychologist, who stayed home with
the children while their mother attended a custody hearing.

Earlier that day, Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Thomas H.
Schulte had indicated he would likely grant temporary custody to
Fontaine's sister-in-law and ordered Fontaine to return to court with
her daughters in the afternoon for a final ruling, said John York, an
attorney for the children's father, Jason Fontaine.

When Elizabeth Fontaine failed to show up, York and the children's
father realized there was a 3:30 p.m. flight from John Wayne Airport to
Houston and notified the judge, York said.

Schulte issued a final order granting temporary custody to the paternal
aunt and told the aunt to drive to the airport and contact deputies at
the sheriff's substation there, York said.

Minutes from the hearing confirm that Schulte gave the sister-in-law
custody and gave her the authority to contact sheriff's deputies to
help keep the children off the flight.

The family never went to the airport, however. The bodies were found
shortly after 1:30 p.m., the hour they were all due back in court.

Fontaine moved to Houston last month with the children after a bitter
custody dispute in which she repeatedly accused her ex-husband of
molesting the two girls.


A court psychologist interviewed the older daughter, but didn't find
that molestation had occurred, according to court documents.

The court eventually awarded primary custody to Elizabeth Fontaine, but allowed her ex-husband unmonitored visits.

Elizabeth Fontaine reopened the custody case in Texas, had the children
examined by new psychologists and renewed her allegations of
molestation with authorities there, records show.

Amormino said the children's father is not a suspect in the case. "The father was nowhere near the crime scene," he said.

Amormino said the victims were staying with friends Kevin and Leslie
Herbert, who lived in the rented house on the small cul-de-sac with
their young son.

Just an hour before sheriff's deputies came to the house on Calle
Sonador, next-door neighbor Rebecca Vandehei, 43, said she heard a
high-pitched cry from what sounded like a young girl and wondered what
was going on.

"It was like someone was waking up from a nap or didn't like something," she said.

Vandehei said Herbert told her that he realized something was wrong, got out of the house and called police.

"He had heard something that bothered him and told his wife to leave,"
Vandehei said. "He heard them talking about some plans and shortly
after that police came."

The last homicide report in town also involved a family massacre.
Relatives who hadn't heard from relatives broke into a home in another
gated community in May 2008 and found five decomposing bodies.

Authorities said Margrit Ucar, 48, shot her husband and herself, while
their 21-year-old twin daughters and the family's 72-year-old maternal
grandmother died from prescription drug overdoses in an apparent
suicide pact. The motive has not been determined.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Authorities are conducting DNA tests to
determine if a woman who lost custody of her two children is
responsible for killing her family in a murder-suicide.The
Orange County sheriff's office says it is unclear whether Elizabeth
Fontaine, a Texas attorney, or her mother Bonnie Hoult was responsible
for the shootings Monday in an upscale home in San Clemente.Both
were found dead along with 4-year-old Catherine and 2-year-old Julia
after Fontaine failed to show up for a custody hearing.Sheriff's
spokesman Jim Amormino says investigators found a handgun between the
women's bodies and will examine any DNA evidence on the weapon to
identify the killer.A judge had gave temporary custody of the children to Fontaine's sister.