Florida man kills wife over NFL game, shoots 13-year-old stepdaughter, police say at news conference | HO”

On a quiet street in Highland City, Florida, a Christmas tree still stood glowing in the front room — presents neatly wrapped beneath its branches, waiting for the holiday that would never come.

Just three days before Christmas, authorities say, 47-year-old Jason Kenny shot his wife Crystal dead during a furious late-night row that erupted while he was drinking and watching his beloved San Francisco 49ers football game. Moments later, he allegedly turned the gun on his 13-year-old stepdaughter as she begged for her life — then fled and fatally shot himself as deputies closed in.

The shocking details were laid out in a sombre news conference by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who described the killings as “hugely sad” — made “ten times worse” by the fact that they happened at Christmastime.

“This absolutely destroyed a family,” the sheriff said.

A football night turns deadly

According to investigators, the nightmare began around 11 p.m. as the 49ers game neared its end. Jason, who had reportedly been drinking throughout the evening, was sitting watching the game when Crystal suggested changing the channel and watching something else.

What should have been a trivial disagreement escalated rapidly, police say.

The argument grew heated enough that Crystal instructed her 12-year-old son to call 911. The terrified boy fled the house toward a neighbor’s home to get help. As he ran, he heard a gunshot ring out behind him.

When deputies arrived minutes later, they walked into a scene they say will haunt them — Crystal lying dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Inside the bedroom, they made another heartbreaking discovery. The family’s 13-year-old daughter had been shot twice — once in the shoulder and once in the face. Miraculously, doctors later said the bullet that struck her face travelled up through the bridge of her nose and exited the top of her head without killing her.

She remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition — awake, talking, and expected to survive. Sheriff Judd called her survival “a Christmas miracle.”

The couple’s one-year-old — Jason’s biological child — was found uninjured in a crib.

Police say Jason never fired at the baby. He also never got the chance to confront the 12-year-old stepson who had already escaped to raise the alarm.

‘Please don’t shoot me’

The 13-year-old’s account of those terrifying moments shook even veteran detectives.

“She said she begged him: ‘Please don’t shoot me. Don’t shoot me,’” Sheriff Judd revealed. “And he shot her twice anyway.”

Police believe Jason fully intended to kill her.

By the time deputies arrived, Jason had already fled in his vehicle, heading toward Lake Wales. Along the way, investigators say, he phoned his sister in upstate New York and confessed.

“I’ve done something very, very bad,” he allegedly told her. “This is the last time you’ll ever talk to me… you’ll see me on the news. I am not going to jail.”

From there, police tracked him to a property belonging to his late father, now in probate. A friend had been staying at the home, but Jason reportedly went straight to a shed on the property and locked himself inside.

Deputies set up a perimeter and ordered him repeatedly to come out.

Instead, they heard a single gunshot.

When officers entered, they found Jason dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the forehead.

Sheriff Judd did not mince words about the murder-suicide.

“The only thing he did right that night was shoot himself after those horrible deeds,” he said bluntly. “If he felt that way, he could have taken himself out and not hurt those two beautiful people.”

‘He could have asked for help’

Investigators say Jason had no prior domestic violence arrests and no criminal history at all.

But family members later told detectives that abuse had allegedly been going on “for some time,” with one relative describing a pattern of Jason “beating on” Crystal. Still, police confirmed there were no previous calls for service from the home.

“Some women protect their husbands,” Sheriff Judd said sadly. “She never called on him.”

Detectives also found what may prove to be a haunting clue into the couple’s troubled relationship. In the home, they discovered an open letter Crystal had written to Jason at some point — although it was not dated.

In it, she urged him to stop drinking and using cocaine, and to turn his life around.

“This is not the way the family should be,” she wrote. “You need God.”

Crystal attended church every Sunday, relatives told investigators.

Whether the letter sparked the fatal argument or had been written earlier remains unknown.

Sheriff Judd stressed that the tragedy could — and should — have been prevented.

“He had every opportunity to seek mental health help,” he said. “We’d have done anything we could for him and the family in advance. There’s always help. Free help. Dial 911 and say, ‘I need help.’ None of this had to occur.”

A Christmas that will never happen

Inside the Kenny household, amid the flashing patrol lights and police tape, detectives were struck by the same image over and over — the still-lit Christmas tree surrounded by unopened gifts.

“Our homicide detectives are distraught,” the sheriff admitted. “They said, ‘We see this big, beautiful Christmas tree. We see the presents wrapped underneath the tree. We see the evidence of a wonderful Christmas about to occur in this house.’”

Now, instead of laughter and family celebrations, there are three traumatized children — one fighting for her life, one who ran for help and heard the sound of his mother being murdered, and a one-year-old who will grow up with no parents.

Authorities say the children are currently staying with grandparents. Florida’s Department of Children and Families has taken custody while their long-term care arrangements are determined. Police believe the biological father of the two older children lives in California and has had little to no involvement in their lives.

“The entire family was destroyed,” the sheriff said.

Police: No signs this would happen — but warning signs were there

Although Jason had never been arrested and had no criminal record, investigators now believe there were clear signs of escalating domestic turmoil — substance abuse, alleged physical violence, and emotional instability.

The tragedy highlights what advocates say is a common pattern — abuse that happens behind closed doors and never reaches authorities’ attention until it is too late.

“This is the worst possible outcome of a family disturbance,” Sheriff Judd said.

He also issued a direct plea to victims — and their loved ones — not to stay silent.

“How does an argument over a television program end up with a murder, an attempted murder, and a suicide?” he asked. “That should never happen.”

A final phone call and a fatal decision

Authorities say the turning point came in that chilling phone call to his sister.

Jason allegedly warned he would never see prison — and signaled that he planned to take his own life rather than face justice.

By the time deputies tracked him down at his late father’s property, he was already inside the shed. Despite multiple commands to surrender, there was only silence — until the single, fatal gunshot.

Sheriff Judd emphasized that while he will never celebrate a death, the only solace is that Jason could no longer harm anyone else.

‘Tell everyone there’s help’

As the press conference came to a close, the sheriff — a seasoned lawman known for his candid, often blunt briefings — paused before delivering a somber holiday message.

“Now that that’s over, you all have a Merry Christmas,” he said quietly to reporters. “But tell everybody there’s help.”

He warned that depression, substance abuse, and domestic violence often spike around the holidays — and urged struggling families to reach out before tragedy strikes.

“Don’t hurt yourself. Don’t hurt a loved one,” he said. “We will come to you and help you.”

A family shattered — and a community in shock

Neighbors and detectives alike are still trying to process the senselessness of what happened inside the Kenny home.

A devoted churchgoer. A mother trying to hold her family together. Children who should have been unwrapping gifts on Christmas morning — not navigating grief, trauma, and life-long scars.

“This should never have happened,” Sheriff Judd said. “But it did.”

As investigators continue piecing together the family’s final hours, the Christmas tree — its lights still twinkling — stands as a heartbreaking reminder of everything the family lost in a single violent night.

Authorities say the investigation remains ongoing, but the facts already paint a devastating picture: a domestic argument spiraled into murder and attempted murder, leaving three children motherless — and a community stunned that a fight over a TV program could end with three lives destroyed forever.