Authorities described domestic disputes, a suspected tracking device and a return for clothing in the days before four family members died.
PLANT CITY, Fla. — Police were called repeatedly to a Plant City family’s home in the days before Hailey Dempsey killed her mother and two young daughters and died by suicide, according to new details released as authorities closed the three-month investigation.
Police Chief Richard Mills Jr. said Thursday that officers encountered escalating family tension before the May 3 shootings, including a verbal dispute between Dempsey and her husband over pornography found on his cellphone. Officers also responded when Dempsey believed a tracking device had been placed on her vehicle and later returned while she collected clothes from the house. Police said none of those calls produced evidence of violence or a crime at the time.
During the first dispute, two days before the shootings, officers were called to the home after an argument between Hailey and Jay Dempsey. Police said the disagreement included accusations involving material found on his phone. Officers remained at the house while Hailey Dempsey gathered belongings and then left with her mother and children to stay at a hotel.
Police were called again later after Hailey Dempsey reported that she believed a tracking device had been placed on her car. Officers checked the vehicle but did not find such a device, authorities said. The following day, police returned while she went back to the family home for additional clothing while her husband was away. Mills said the couple later spoke at a local library.
Those encounters became part of a much broader investigation after four members of the family were found shot on May 3. Police said the earlier domestic disputes helped investigators reconstruct the days before the deaths, but authorities have not identified the arguments as a definitive motive.
Investigators said Hailey Dempsey first fatally shot her mother, Valerie DeBoe, 55, inside the North Burton Street home. She then left on foot with her three daughters at about 5 a.m. Community doorbell footage showed the group moving through the neighborhood and approaching another residence before leaving.
Shortly before 7 a.m., police said Dempsey went behind trees and bushes with the children in the front yard of another home. Investigators determined that she fatally shot her 4-year-old and 4-month-old daughters there and fired at her 2-year-old daughter but missed. Dempsey then died by suicide. The surviving girl was found physically unharmed and is now staying with relatives, police said.
Authorities also examined reports concerning firearms at the family’s home. Mills said Jay Dempsey legally owned several guns and was worried during one police encounter that officers might seize them. Investigators later tied a firearm recovered in the case to ammunition evidence from the shooting scenes.
Jay Dempsey was detained when he arrived at the house on May 3 while officers were carrying out a search warrant, but police said he was never arrested. Investigators reviewed his movements and determined that he was traveling from a friend’s home in Lakeland toward Plant City when the shootings happened. Authorities ultimately eliminated him as a suspect.
Police said they also found indications that Hailey Dempsey may have been experiencing mental-health problems. Investigators reviewed messages in which she described difficulty caring for the children and referred to having a breakdown, according to local reporting on the police findings. Authorities have not announced a medical diagnosis or said that a specific condition caused the violence.
Mills said the case required investigators to examine multiple scenes, extensive digital evidence and hundreds of physical items before reaching a conclusion. Police said the evidence supports a murder-suicide involving Hailey Dempsey and that no living suspect remains. The department has closed the criminal investigation, while the precise reason for the killings remains unresolved.
Author note: Last updated August 14, 2026.