Father murdered his wife and 13-week-old daughter 'because she wasn't born a boy'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... n-boy.html
By Mail Foreign Service
31st December 2009
U.S. police are hunting a father who shot dead his 13-week-old baby daughter - because she had not been born a boy.
Daniel Hicks, 29, also gunned down the mother of his newborn daughter before going on the run.
Relatives told police in Seattle, Washington, that Hicks was disappointed his first born child was not a boy.
They said he was unhappy that his girlfriend Jennifer Morgan became pregnant and had failed to bond with his daughter Ema.
Morgan's mother said he had expressed regret that his newborn daughter was not a boy.
Family members said Morgan, 28, had also asked her boyfriend of nine years to leave after a series of rows.
The bodies of Ema and her mother Jennifer were found in the basement of her grandmother's home where they lived.
Morgan had been shot 12 times and the newborn seven times.
Police said a .45 calibre weapon had been used and Hicks would have had to reload the gun at least twice to fire a total of 21 shots.
Detective Eugene Ramirez said in court documents that Morgan hadtold those close to her that there was trouble in the relationship.
'Jennifer confided in (her mother) that the defendant, Daniel Hicks, was upset the baby was a girl and not a boy,' Ramirez said in court documents.
'Most recently he became very jealous and suspicious of Jennifer and expressed reservations about being Emma Lyn's biological father.'
Hicks fled the home after the shooting but left a note for his brother, a soldier serving in Iraq.
In the note Hicks wrote: 'I'm sorry. ... I hope your stuff is not stolen by the police. I am sick, like Grandpa. Sorry cannot fix life. Please live for yourself and not others.
'Do not cry.'
Police said the reference to 'Grandpa' was a 1983 killing. Hicks' grandfather, Dean Hicks killed his wife, Lona Hicks, and then himself.
US authorities have charged Hicks with two counts of first degree murder. He faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if found guilty.
